The List
by Yumenori
Summary: Kouji finds a list on the ground one day about how to make a girl like you. What happens when he does what the list says to do and tries to get Izumi to like him? KoujixIzumi! Finally complete after so long. Hope you all like it!
1. The All Mighty List

Disclaimer: I do not own any season of Digimon cause if I did then it wouldn't be as popular as it was and it would be totally mushy mushy between my favorite couples.

Yume: This is my first attempt at a good story and I wanted to write one on Kouji and Izumi. If there is something wrong with the story, send me a message so I can make sure I dun make the same mistake in the future! Also, I don't watch that much Digimon anymore since it got kinda old so don't blame me if my Digi-ness has gone away. And I know, its short but I have an urge to post **something**!!!

(Excuse any mistakes in the disclaimer or w/e if you see any, just R&R me and tell me TT)

Chapter 1. The All Mighty List (Dum dum dum!)

Kouji walked home from school, his heavy bag tossed over his shoulder as he rest his hand in his pocket. He was 15-years-old now and had had a crush on Izumi Orimoto since he entered Middle School, now in High School. Izumi had just recently broke up with Kouji's once rival and now best friend, Takuya, around July. For some reason Izumi ran to Kouichi and they've been hanging out at school a lot lately. Are they in love or something!?

Suddenly a strong gust of wind rushed by him, Kouji's sight blurred as he grabbed onto his face feeling a... paper? He pulled it off his face as the gust blew past him. He viewed it, seeing it was written a while ago by the cripples in the paper. It was hand written with a dark blue pen as Kouji read the top of the paper it read,

_Ways to make the girl you like like you. A Guide to being the perfect guy._

Kouji glanced at the list of things. Only twelve... why would this list suddenly fly to him as he was thinking of how he would never get Izumi? Maybe its destiny, but Kouji never believed in destiny when it came to a crush or love. What kind of moron would even make a list like this?

Kouji quickly folded the list and pocketed it before walking quickly to his house.

-------------------------

Kouji quickly walked into his house and tossed his bag where he also kicked off his shoes, hurrying up the stairs when his twin called him.

"Kouji, whats the rush?" Kouichi asked him walking out from the kitchen as Kouji stopped dead at the stairs. (Sorry, dunno what Kouichi's personality is like at all.)

'_Kouichi would think I'm getting desperate if he saw me with this list._' Kouji thought before saying back in the calmest voice he could, "I'm really tired...." Kouji thought he did quite a good job at faking it since he's not usually all to good at it.

"Whatcha hiding?" Kouichi asked seriously.

"W-what? I'm not hiding anything!" Kouji stammered out.

"I'm just kidding, jeese." Kouichi walked back into the kitchen and Kouji hurried back up the stairs into his room, locking the door behind him so Kouichi wouldn't come barging in like he sometimes liked to since they had to share a room.

Kouji plopped down on his bed and pulled out the list and unfolded it, careful not to rip it from all the worn out folding. "Maybe I am desperate." Kouji muttered as he tossed the list by their computer, deciding to follow the lists suggestions and to go to sleep unless Kouichi would find out he was lying about being tired.

Yume: Okie, okie! It was probably super stupid but I want to see what some people think of my writing even though its stupid. R&R before I sick my little green cousin on you!


	2. Cheesecake?

**Okie! We're finally updating! Yay! Oh yeah, this is a Kouji POV story, I don't think I'll be putting Izumi's POV in here and if I do, I'll correct myself when that happens!**

**Reviewers Section:**

**Cloaked Fox: Uhm, this is a fanfiction afterall, so Kouichi moved in with Kouji or something. **http: **is a Kouzumi fanlisting for evidence of the Kouji/Izumi relationship, thank you very much ya poopy flame sender!**

**Luisa Perez: Aww, shucks! Thanks for making me write Chp. 2 and being my first good-reviewer! hands you Kouji & Kouichi dollies!**

**saqaaf-himura: Heh, thankies. I got the idea from a hate mail I found on someone's website! You get dollies too. hands you Kouji & Kouichi dollies!**

**kaurama-kasuki: Yeah, I know. I just wrote a short chapter to see if anyone even liked the idea. I'll try to make them longer, but I'm sorta lazy so you'll get lucky if I even update often! **

**Sakura2387: To tell the truth, my computer went dumb and deleted my list for the story so I have to come up with a completely new one. smashes lousy 98 computer**

**CrAzY-SiLLy-Me: Yeah, it will be AO/OOC. I don't watch Digimon anymore since it brings back memories! And I guess he's just getting a little desperate or something. Next time I create a story, I'll have to include that. Thankies!**

**Without further waiting -**

**Disclaimer: I-Own-Nothing except my kitty, actually, she owns me. She's the supreme empress of the house, not me. ;;**

**The List**

**Chapter 2: Cheesecake?**

The next morning at school, Kouji decided it was time to put the list to the test and see if it could really make a girl like you. Kouji had kept the list in his sight at all times since he found it but this morning, he was so worked up on hurrying to school, since he was almost late, he forgot it on his desk. Damn. His memory was serving no use either of at least _one _of the steps.

Now all Kouji could do for the entire day was wait until the end of it so he could read the list over and over after school so he wouldn't forget it. He went through History, Math, Science and Computers caught up in his own thoughts.

'_For desert in our lunch we get cheesecake..._' And since cheesecake was his favorite of delicacys (did I spell it right?), there was no way in hell he was going to miss lunch. (CrAzY-SiLLy-Me was right, this is really OOC! I'm just making it up as I go...).

Kouji put on his 'loner' attitude and went to the lunch line with a tray. He had his eyes the entire time on the cheesecake, closer, closer... He reached out for the sweet food, the last piece, when he felt someone else's hand gently brush against his reaching for the last piece. The other hand pulled away quickly along with Kouji's at the brush of the hands.

Ah, jeese, I'm getting descriptive, bear with me.

"Oh, hey Kouji." Izumi greeted seeing it was his hand.

Kouji tried to hide his slight embaressment by making his voice as monotone and, well, 'Kouji' as possible. "Hey."

"You can have it."

"Huh?"

"The cheesecake silly." Izumi picked up the last piece and tried handing it to him.

'_Think, Kouji. What would the list say to do? It would say to let Izumi have the cheesecake instead of taking it for your greedy self! Right? Right!_'

"I don't want it." Kouji told her, facing the other way. "You can have it."

"Are you sure? Thanks Kouji!" Izumi set the cheesecake on her plate and gave Kouji a peck on the cheek before walking off to join her friends at a table.

On a blush rating of 1-10, he was given an 8 but he did a excellent job at hiding the blush. Having years of experience being a loner came in handy sometimes.

Kouji was finally in his last hour of his boring 7-hour school day, a French class that was required for some odd reason. On the board was written _Je n'aime pas Mme. Takya_. It was better than Spanish, at least.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind as he looked to see what Takuya (that IS his name, right?) wanted.

"Hey, I'm gonna ask out Izumi after school." Takuya told Kouji.

Once again, thank you years of loner training. No disappointment could be shown on Kouji's face.

"So?" Kouji shot back coldly without really meaning to but at the same time, meaning to.

"Jeese, dude. Just sayin'." Kouji wound up the conversation by turning back toward the front, ignoring anything more Takuya had to say.

Kouji was still pissed at the end of French class once he was finally released from the prisons of high school. Normally, this was the happiest time of day for him besides for Cheesecake day but not today. Not since Takuya's announcement during French.

Kouji walked outside the doors only to see something to make his day more worse then it already was. Izumi and Takuya holding hands. He knew he shouldn't have put the alarm on 'snooze' that morning.

**Agh! I can't think of anything else to put! I'M SORRY WORLD! I'M SORRY MY WHOLE 4-7 READER'S! FORGIVE MEEE!**

**Anyway, I need more ideas since I lost my actual list! Click the little purple button down there that says 'go' and give me a suggestion. What would you want a guy to do for you so you would like him? Hmm? I'd expect the whole Romeo/Juliet scene but thats alright. I wasn't planning on making Takuya the villain-type character in this story but it's just how it turned out. Sorry Takuya fans!**

**Thank You! Everyone is welcome to R&R and even yell at me for the short-ness of the chapter except for CloakedFox cause he's a butt head. Feel free to correct any mistakes also, I'm still learning.**


	3. Questions & Answers

**Ack. I just realized how much of a big mistake I made after re-reading my two chapters over and over again to write this third chapter. I accidentally said that Izumi had broken up with Takuya in the first chapter. But in the second chapter, they're going out again! Whoa, I have such bad memory on what I write! So let's just say they forgave eachother after breaking up or something along those lines. Okie?**

**Reviewer's Section:**

**Aun: Aww, thanks. That makes my day!**

**Luisa Perez: Thankies, you're a loyal reviewer. I'm glad you have dedication to this story! And you're welcome for the dollies!**

**CrAzY-SiLLy-Me: Heh, okie, I'll try not to do that anymore. And thanks for the spelling correction and suggestion, it's a big help.**

**Butthead: I know my fic isn't that good, and I don't want you to worship it. I don't want you to even review if I can't even understand what the hell you're talking about. Also, get your own saying! Don't steal 'Bah. Humbug.' or I'll have to consider you a grouch.**

**LunaOP AznG3: Wow, funky name! Thanks for the encouragement! **

**indigowolf: Thankies **

**Izumi Rules: Lol, how did you know? P Thanks for the review and I agree with your name.**

**lovelykeadeinufan: I hope I spelled your name right. I agree, Kouji and Zoe all the way! Thanks for the review!**

**RedHotPheonix: Thanks!**

**neemon: Lol, I agree but it's just hard for me to write and resist the urge to post it as the next chapter right away! I'll try my best to make this chapter longer. Thanks for the review!**

**miniJkitty: Oh, the only reason I said that was because I know French and not a word of Spanish so I thought it would work out better in the story. I just added that comment to show a little bit of Kouji's personality that you don't get to see in the series! Thanks for the review!**

**kaurama-kasuki: I like the conversation between Kouji and you, it was interesting! You should write a Kouzumi if you haven't already! Thankies so much for the review! hands Kouji and Kouichi dolly!**

**My dear Cousin: Yay, you listened to me and read my story! Thanks Akumu, and I ran outta dollies so I have to re-stock, sorry! TT**

**Also, I'm sorry I've been lazy on updating but I also want to thank the reviewers. I never expected 20 reviews in only two short chapters. There are some stories with only 3 reviews! So I send many special thanks to you guys! 3333 My hand got hurt today and is still in pain, bone cracked or something, so don't mind any freaky typos!**

**And now, onto the long awaited third chapter of the Kouzumi fanfic.**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutly nothing except the plot!**

**The List**

**Chapter 3: Questions & Answers**

---

Kouji silently lay in bed staring up at the white ceiling. Why would Takuya and Izumi begin going-out again if they had just broken up 2 months ago? Kouji glanced over at the alarm sitting silently on his bed stand reading 12:41 PM. Kouichi lay silently asleep with the occasional mumbling in his own bed. Why had Izumi run to Kouichi after that break-up?

So many questions were buzzing through his mind it was causing him to miss his normal sleeping hours. He had a test tomorrow in French... or was it today? Agh! To many questions. He could never sleep with questions on his mind!

He rolled over trying to get comfortable. He had to find out why Takuya and Izumi had broken up and why they were going-out again.

---

Kouji had developed a plan through out the school day so he could get some sleep that night. After school, in a matter of 11 minutes, he would find Takuya and talk to him alone about the issue at hand.

It turned out, he did have a test in French that day which he had failed miserably with little bags under his eyes. The evil, vile French teacher who he would plan revenge against... Yes... Revenge sounded nice right about now along with sleep. He would get revenge on Takuya and the evil French teacher of doom who wanted him to fail!

He growled quietly to himself trying to force the clock to go faster so he could leave. He gave it one of his famous glares that could scare little kids away... He would scare the clock into going faster!

Ranting... ranting...

It was amazing the things you could come up with just to keep yourself occupied instead of bored.

Bored... bored...

Now the clock read 8 more minutes.

DAMN WAS IT MOVING SO SLOW!

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the list of perfect boyfriend... ways. He read over the first one again and again. Stare. At. Them. Staring at Izumi would be no problem... but it was the fact that he would be... **staring** at her. He would have to do it sometime if he was ever going to win over Izumi.

He heard a few stiffled giggles and looked behind him, fists clenched to see a few girls in the back of the room giggling at him. It was normal. He turned around, blocking the sounds from his mind and went back to his list.

The bell suddenly rang as he stuffed the old paper back in his pocket and swung his bag over his shoulder, promptly leaving. He had to find Takuya now and _force_ the information out of him!

After a few minutes of searching, he managed to find Takuya... holding hands with... Izumi. Damn. He turned around, trying not to be noticed by his group of friends consisting of JP, Tommy, Kouichi, Takuya and Izumi but it was too late.

"Hey Kouji!"

He stopped in mid-walk as the sound of Takuya's annoying voice ran through his mind. He caught himself and put on the loner look, looking back.

"What?"

"Wanna go and grab something to eat at Cheesy Burger?" Takuya partially yelled.

"Yeah, come on man. I'm starving!" JP yelled.

"Fine." Kouji said as he walked over to the group.

They all began walking to the restaraunt of... cheesy burgers. JP, Kouichi and Tommy were in front, talking about something or another followed by Takuya and Izumi holding hands and Kouji bringing up the rear. Kouji glared at Takuya's back trying to force it to catch fire just to watch Takuya flail around.

His gaze then trailed down to the two hands which brought up another question. Why the hell wasn't JP freaking out over this new relationship! Didn't he have a major crush on Izumi since... ever? Since they met?

Kouichi looked back to see his twin sulking. Sulking? He stopped to walk next to Kouji.

"What's up?" He asked, smiling.

"Nothing." Kouji said and that ended that conversation.

"Hey." Kouichi said after a few minutes of silence. "Do you have a crush on anybody?"

Kouji almost snorted. "No, why?"

He was soooo good at fake snorting. He had actually stayed up one night perfecting it like he had most of his other emotions. Kouichi had hit the nail on the head. Damn.

"Well I just noticed you were **eyeing **someone lately." Kouichi said teasingly.

"Humph, who?" Kouji remarked. Damn was he good at that.

"Hey guys we're here." Takuya interupted.

Kouji cursed at Takuya again under his breath for some reason, even though his interuption in Kouichi and his' conversation was actually a good thing for once. But he still couldn't help but be curious at who Kouichi would answer.

Takuya broke away from Izumi and ran up to the front, opening the door and holding it open for everybody like a butler would. He had his eyes closed so he couldn't see the glare Kouji shot at him.

They all took a seat at a corner table on the bright red cushion material. Most of the Cheesy Burger's colors consisted of red, yellow and other bright colors which absolutly made Kouji sick. They all placed their orders and the food came quickly since business was rather slow by the looks of it.

Everyone began to talk once again, everyone except for Kouji that is who was still glaring at Takuya. He pulled the list from his pocket once again and placed it on his lap below the table so no one else could see it since he was sitting on the edge and next to Kouichi. He read it over and over.

Stare at them.

Stare at them.

Stare at them.

"What's that?"

Kouji jumped and pulled the list off his lap and away from Kouichi's reach, causing everyone at the table to stare at him.

"Nothing." Kouji muttered.

"What's it say?" Kouichi asked as he tried to grab the paper from Kouji's hands.

"It's my homework." Kouji lied.

"Why are you doing your homework now?" Kouichi asked, trying to distract Kouji long enough to grab the crumpled thing.

Finally, Kouichi snatched the paper from Kouji as they all read it. Kouji's cheeks burned. By the time everyone was done reading it and looked up at Kouji, he was gone, the door promptly shutting.

"...That was weird." JP said.

"Mhm!" Tommy exclaimed in agreement.

Kouichi whispered to Izumi who was sitting next to him. "Plan's working."

She giggled causing Takuya to smirk and JP and Tommy to wonder what the heck was going on.

---

Kouji slammed the door to his house shut, out of breath. He threw off his shoes and back pack and went upstairs and into his room, slamming that door as well.

Dammit! All his plans to win over Izumi were ruined now! They had the damn list! How could he possibly get her now?

An image of an evil Takuya holding a damsel-in-distress's shoulder AKA Izumi appeared in his mind with flames behind the entire picture. Takuya had fangs and was smirking evilly at the helpless form of Izumi who was in a pink dress with a shoulder showing.

He frowned, permanently deleting or hiding the image from his mind.

How badly he would be teased by his friends now for having such a list...

And what the hell was Kouichi thinking! Kouichi was his friend not to mention his _twin _so why would he want to expose Kouji like that?

He paced back and forth in the plain room, biting his nails nervously which was a rare occurance considering Kouji Minamoto _never_ got nervous and if he did, it never showed.

A knock came on the door as he jumped.

He quickly regained composture and turned into loner-Kouji again.

"Come in."

Kouichi entered with a hurt expression on his face and closed the door behind him. Kouji noted that his list was in neither of Kouichi's hands.

"So..." Kouichi smiled gleefully. "You DO have a crush on Izumi!"

"Ah, no!" Kouji mentally smacked himself.

"Why else would you have this?" Kouichi pulled out the list from no where.

"So what if I do?" Kouji said, looking away from his twin.

"I had a feeling you did." Kouichi exclaimed sitting on his light blue bed.

"Does Izumi know that?" Kouji questioned annoyingly.

"Nope." Kouichi said happily.

"Then don't make it a well-known fact, got it Kouichi?" Kouji snapped.

"Right." Kouichi made a motion of zipping his lips and throwing away the key... which made no sense.

"Does anyone else know?" Kouji asked with a sigh.

"We all read that list." Kouichi explained. "But I don't think anyone has any idea. JP thought about Izumi but I said it wasn't and that I knew who it was."

"Did you tell them?"

"I told them it was Kagura Fuyumi!" Kouichi exclaimed as if he was a little boy opening presents.

"WHAT?" Kouji yelled. "Kagura Fuyumi is _crazy_! Why would you pick her of all people!"

"Because she's your crazy fangirl stalker." Kouichi explained with a puppy dog look on his face.

Kouji sighed. Tomorrow would be a very long day.

---

**Yeah, poor Kouji. You should all love me for writing this chapter wayyyy in the AM! So R&R please cause I tried to make this as long as possible but I'm super tired, lol. I'll have more dollies for you reviewers soon! Gimme a request of what dolly you want! Thankies**

**Yume**


	4. Destiny, Fate, Whatever

**Ah! I'm sorry if there was any sort of confusion in this story but I'm making it up and adding the list in as I go which can be rather frustrating since I get writer's block very easily. Sorry this one is short.**

**Reviewer's Section:**

**Luisa Perez:** **Okie! hands you a Kouji and Takuya dollie! See! Now Kouichi and Takuya can be friends and stuff so they aren't lonely and Kouji and Izumi can go be... Kouzumi! You are my most loyal reviewer so you is special. **

**CrAzY-SiLLy-Me: Lol, glad you like it. I think we all like seeing the loner getting tortured once in a while, especially Kouji. Thanks for the review!**

**Izumi Rules: Thanks! **

**kaurama-kasuki: Nyeh! So many compliments, thank you!**

**KoumiLoccness: Thanks I think D**

**eva92: Lol, thankies! I'm kinda making it up as I go so I can't help but be worried, writer's block and all! Xx**

**bluesilver-soul: Hmm... are they up to something? Or not? Gonna have to wait you silly! Thanks for reviewing, here's the next chappie for ya!**

**Let me just say, this is great. I uploaded Chapter 3 and it had been online for only a few hours and I already had reviews coming in, I love you guys! huggles**

**And do I really have to put the Disclaimer? You know it already! D**

**The List**

**Chapter 4: Insert Chapter Name Here**

---

Thursday... the worst day because it was the day before Friday. But then again, Monday is bad also... and so is Wednesday since it's in the middle and all. Ok, so it's not the worst day of the week. Monday is. But it was the worst day for Kouji Minamoto who was currently hiding behind his locker door from Kagura Fuyumi.

How could Kouichi do this to him!

Kouji slammed his head into the locker next to him and shook his head. He really didn't want to go to lunch with the hyper-active brunette running around, searching for him.

"How's it going?"

Kouji jumped, his head once again colliding with the locker only not on purpose. He turned around, glaring at Kouichi who stood innocently behind him. Kouji ignored Kouichi and went back to staring into his locker to keep his face hidden.

"Are you still mad at me for telling Kagura that you had a crush on her?" Kouichi questioned from behind him.

"I have to live behind locker doors now." Kouji said, sighing.

"Relax Kouji." Kouichi chuckled. "Kagura left, she had a Doctor's appointment."

"Good!" Kouji exclaimed, pulling his head from his locker and slamming the door shut triumphantly.

Kouji started walking to lunch, positively starving and ignoring Kouichi. Being who he was though, Kouichi promptly followed his twin regardless that he had already eaten lunch. By the time they finally reached the lunch room and Kouji and went up to get his lunch, the bell rang for classes to start.

Kouichi chuckled at his brothers un-fortunate luck. That is, until Kouji began to give Kouichi his famous glare and threatened to kill Kouichi unless he stopped laughing, then Kouichi found this very un-funny.

---

Since everyone else had gone to the building of Greasy Burgers and other assorted greasy things, Kouji ended up walking home by himself. But today, Kouji would not go home. No, he would make a little detour first to the home of Izumi to wait until she arrived home and confess his un-dying love for her. It seemed like the only simple way out.

A little demon version of Kouji appeared on his right shoulder.

"Right on!" He cheered. "The simple way is always the better choice!"

That was when a little angel version of Kouji appeared on his left shoulder.

"Nooooo!" He pleaded in a very annoying and high-pitched voice. "Don't do it Kouji! The simple way is not always the right way!"

"Shup!" Demon Kouji said, somehow poking Angel Kouji in the side with his pitchfork, causing him to 'poof' away. "Now that he's outta dah way, go!"

Kouji stopped in his tracks thinking over what Angel Kouji had said. The simple way was not always the right way. If he did this, not only would Takuya be mad at him but probably the rest of the group, too for being so selfish. Damn, would he ever find a right way to do this?

Angel Kouji re-appeared with stitchings on his white robes where Demon Kouji had poked him. Kouji turned around, away from Izumi's house, and began to walk back to his own.

"Noooo!" Demon Kouji yelled.

"Yeah!" Angel Kouji cheered on, pulling a golden pitchfork out of no where and gaining his revenge upon Demon Kouji. "Muahahahaha!"

At that moment, Kouji was sure he had gone insane.

---

As Kouichi sat downstairs watching TV and as his father and step-mother went out to god knows where, Kouji sat in his room as usual pondering on his options. He could either:

A) Confess his un-dying love for Izumi and ultimatly declare himself the stupidest man alive.

B) Wait patiently until something happened between Takuya and Izumi so he could make his move.

C) Make something happen between Takuya and Izumi so they would break up!

D) Forget entirely about Izumi and let Takuya have her.

Or there was always the last option of

E) Use the list to get Izumi.

"Stupid list." Kouji muttered as he crumpled up a random paper and threw it on the floor.

It seemed like every option had it's faults, but option E and B had the least amount. But how long could he wait for Izumi and Takuya to break up? He had to do something. Anything to get her to notice him. Very un-common for the lone wolf who often wished to be very un-noticed.

"Use the list."

Kouichi stood at the door of the bedroom, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

"Why should I?" Kouji said, looking away from his twin with a sigh.

"I dunno." Kouichi admitted. "Just seems like a good idea, doesn't it? It's like fate. At the same time you found that dating list, Takuya and Izumi begin to go out for the first time ever. Kinda strange, isn't it?"

"I guess." Kouji crumpled up another paper and tossed it at the wall.

Kouichi walked over to Kouji. "Doesn't it just seem that way though? I think this is how it's supposed to work out, by you using the list to get Izumi."

Kouichi had a point as much as Kouji hated to admit it. Right when times got desperate and Kouji really wanted to date Izumi, the list just appears out of no where. And then Takuya begins to date Izumi, it was like a strange act of fate.

"YEAH!" Kouji stood up, raising his fist into the air.

Kouichi gave him a weird look. Kouji went back to his loner self after realizing what he had just done made him appear very, very insane. Very insane indeed.

"I'll do it." Kouji declared. "I'm going to go out with Izumi. Maybe it is destiny or fate or whatever and that's how I got this thing." He held up the crumpled list with worn out edges.

Kouichi gave him a thumbs up as the door bell rang. The brothers looked at eachother curiously. It was well into the evening, around 8 pm. Who would be visiting at this hour, un-expected by anyone?

They went downstairs and to the door, opening it to see a very hyper Kagura.

"Whoa shit!" Kouji exclaimed as he ran back up the stairs, heading towards his room.

"NO YOU DON'T KOUJI MINAMOTO!"

Kagura screamed as she ran after him, tackling his legs as they both fell. She was like a leech who refused to let go, even as he kicked.

"Get off!" Kouji yelled, trying to break free of her steel grasp on his legs.

"Did I forget to tell you that Kagura and you are now officially dating?" Kouichi said with a chuckle.

"...What?" Kouji said, dumb-founded.

First, Kouichi says to go for Izumi. Now, he is dating Kagura all thanks to his dearest twin brother. If Kouji thought Thursdays were bad, wait til he found out what Fridays were like. Especially with Kagura hanging off his arm.

---

**Yeah, lol. I wrote a lot of that tonight so give me a break. I write chapters over a few days and I make everything up as I go along, I have no idea where this story is going but I do know the ending so no worries there! I don't even know how long this story will end up being or if I'll make a sequel or even if I'll finish! Well, review please. I have to go to sleep now! R&R! I have an addiction to reviews of fans! 33333**


	5. Scary Movies

**Ah, I'm so lazy and tired now since school started. Homework, MSN chatting, real life friends, visiting Dad, there is just no time for updates now'a'days! But I got one anyway by squeezing it into my schedule...**

**Reviewer's Corner Yeah Bud: This will be the last Reviewer's Corner... BTW. Since I heard has banned it. Sorry, guys. If you want a response, tell me to respond to you in your review and I'll mail ya.**

**kaurama-kasuki: Haha, you really think so? ; Thanks, I really think it's kinda boring but I'm glad you like it! Thankies!**

**Twighlight13: Heh, yeah. We all like to see him suffer, though. Here's the next chapter for you! Thanks for the review! D**

**Dragon and Sword Master: Mebbe! Thanks for the compliments, though. You have to wait and see what happens silly rabbit. You is thanked for Reviewing!**

**CrAzY-SiLLy-Me: Lol, thank you! I tried to make that chapter humorous since I was having major... writer's block I guess. Thanked for Reviewing again!**

**Luisa Perez: I'll take a look at your stories sometime! Here's the update, thank you so much for reviewing Luisa!**

**MononokeKitsune: Yeah, my grammer has never been my best... Took me forever to learn the differences between 'their', 'there' and 'they're'. Although I don't know if that means anything about grammer... Lol, thanks for the review!**

**eva92: Haha, thank-you!**

**sacradjinn: I wouldn't say greatest fic ever... but I guess in your opinion it might be. Haha, thankies! **

**devilleader: Thanks, I tried to add some humor in!**

**The List**

**Chapter 5: Scary Movies**

---

The previous night, Kouichi had tried to convince Kouji that finding the list conveniently when Kouji was getting desperate was an act of fate. Somehow, Kouichi succeeded in convincing Kouji. But today, being a 'Thank God it's Friday' Friday, Kouji didn't believe in that idea anymore. Now he believed, for sure, it was the end of the world and all these signs of 'fate' were actually signs of the end of the world.

And here came the nuclear bomb now.

"KOUUJJIIIII!" Kagura yelled through the hall, causing several stares, as she skipped down the hall to Kouji.

Kouji immediatly stopped in his tracks, having been on his way to class. He hunched his shoulders up and prepared himself for what was to come. Kagura skipped up and latched herself onto his arm that was snuggly placed in his pocket. The two continued to walk.

"Kouji, I had an idea!" Kagura said... all... happy...ish.

Kouji sighed. "What's that?"

'_...Why am I 'almost' dating her again? Oh yeah, to make Izumi jealous._'

"I thought we could go see a movie together!" She purposed... all... cheery... ish.

"Fine. Which movie?"

'_I hope it's nothing with stupid little bunnies in it._'

She let go of his arm, and ran off in front of him, waving back. "It's a suprise! See you tonight at eight!"

'_Damn you, Kouichi._'

---

_Later that same school day..._

"Hi, Kouji." Izumi walked up to Kouji, smiling happily at him.

He stifled back a blush. "Hey."

Izumi laughed a little before continuing. "I had these tickets already bought for a movie tonight at 8 pm. Takuya was going to go with me, but his parents are making him go on a trip to visit his cousins in Osaka. So I was curious and wanted to know if you would go with me instead. It'd be lonely, watching the movie by myself."

Kouichi's head popped out from around the corner, behind Izumi. Kouji watched him in curiousity... and becomming rather disturbed... as his brother motioned for Kouji to accept the offer.

Kouji played it cool, shrugging. "Sure."

She smiled and handed him a ticket to the movie 'The Ring'. "I'll see you tonight at 8 sharp, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, thanks, Kouji!" Izumi waved to him and walked away.

Kouji's eyes trailed after Izumi, watching her walk past him and down the halls. Kouji turned back around and yelled, dropping his books. Kouichi had somehow appeared right in front of him with a smile on his face.

"Good going!" Kouichi patted Kouji on the back.

Kouji bent over and picked up his books, shooting Kouichi a glare as he stood back up. Kouichi's smug smile would be planted on his face for the rest of the day if it weren't for the sudden thought coming to his mind.

"Ooh..." Kouichi said, his face going blank.

"What?" Kouji asked, annoyed at his twin brother for getting him into so much trouble lately.

Kouichi grinned wearily. "You have a date with Izumi and Kagura tonight at the same movie theatre and same time..."

Kouji's eyes widened. "Gah! Kouichi! How do you get me into these damn situations!"

Kouichi shrugged and walked away, saying, "Runs in the family, I guess."

---

That night, an hour before 8 pm _sharp_, Kouji paced back and forth in his room, Kouichi sitting on the bed, watching his twin.

Kouji finally collapsed on the floor, sitting indian-style, looking up at his brother and muttering, "Help me, dammit!"

"Okay, okay." Kouichi stood up and resumed his brother's recent pacing, his hand holding onto his chin in deep thought. "You can either cancel for Izumi or Kagura."

"Definetly not Izumi." Kouji said, sighing. "I guess I'll just cancel for Kagura-"

"You're gonna die tomorrow if you do that."

"Why do you say that?"

"Kagura'd kill you for cancelling."

Kouji sighed again and fell back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. His brother leaned over him.

Kouichi grinned. "Why don't you just go to both dates?"

"I can't do that." Kouji said. "I'm only one person."

"With a twin brother, mind you." Kouichi's grin widened.

Kouji grinned also. "I like the way you think."

---

After being dropped off at the theatre, Kouji checked his movie ticket that Izumi had given him. He walked up to the booth, showed the man his ticket, was given directions, and went to theatre 3, where Izumi waited. Once in there, he saw there were very few people attending the movie. Izumi stuck out, sitting in the middle of the 7th row.

Kouji took a deep breath a tugged at his jacket, making sure everything was perfect. He walked into the room and down the isle, making his way to Izumi. Izumi then noticed him, but her eyes grew wide at Kouji's oblivious attitude.

"Kouji, look out for the-"

Too late. As he walked down the isle, there was a bright yellow cord Kouji had somehow managed to not notice, as he tripped over it, falling flat on his face. Great, smooth move, Kouji.

He quickly regained composture, standing up and ignoring the chuckles coming from the other people in the theatre. Kouji straightened his clothes out and worked through the seat, taking a seat next to Izumi.

"Sorry!" Izumi apoligized, brushing some missed popcorn from his jacket. "I should have warned you sooner."

Kouji shrugged it off. "It's no big deal. You couldn't have stopped it, anyway."

The movie began and Kouji placed his hands on the armrests on either side of him. The room grew dark as the beginning previews rolled by in front of them.

---

"Kouji! You waited for me!" Kagura came up and hugged Kouji as the two made their way over to buy their tickets. "Sorry I was late. I couldn't decide on how I should do my hair."

"That's okay..." Kouji coughed. "...Mookie-Jiggles. I'd wait an eternity for you, even if it was for your hair."

Kagura blushed wildly as their tickets were purchased for... some movie that Kouji didn't hear. They went to the theatre, the movie still in previews. As they took a seat, the movie began.

'_What the hell?_' Kouji thought to himself, seeing the title of the movie. '_What the hell are 'Care Bears'?_'

As the movie went on for 15 minutes, Kouji thought he had entered the American 60's full of 'groovy' and 'righteous' times. He felt brainwashed.

"The Care Bears are so cute!" Kagura whispered to him as the movie continued, leaving Kouji dumb-founded.

Kouji sighed. '_Damn you, Kouji. You owe me one for this._'

"Ah!" Kagura leaned over and hugged "Kouji's" jacket. "This is scary! Watch out, Dream Bear!"

He patted Kagura's head. "It's okay, my wittle Mookie-Jiggles. The Minamotinator is here to protect you from the mean... whatever those things are!"

'_...Minamotinator? I'm watching to many American Movies._'

"I'm going to go buy some popcorn, do you want anything?" Kagura said.

Kouiji thought for a moment before deciding. "Can I have some pockey?" He put on the puppy face.

"Sure, what kind?" Kagura asked.

"Strawberry!" Kouji yelled, getting several shushes from the other people.

Kagura smiled. "Okay, I'll be right back!"

She skipped merrily from the theatre, Kouji watching with a smile her until she left. He quickly went from smiling to a frantic look on his face, removing his jacket and bandana, waving his ticket in his face.

"Damn..." Kouji muttered. "How can Kouji stand to wear this outfit 24/7? It's so hot!"

---

As the movie Izumi and Kouji were watching progressed, Izumi grew rather frightful, while Kouji thought it was rather funny. As she watched the movie, she quickly moved her hands to the armrests, gripping them tightly. Funny, the armrests were unusually warm. She looked at them, only to find her hand was now over Kouji's.

Izumi blushed and didn't bother to move her hand. She glanced at Kouji. He looked like he didn't mind, since he had a blank face as usual.

But then that one thing happened to ruin the moment.

"I'll be right back." Kouji muttered, standing up and leaving the theatre.

'_Did I do something wrong?_' Izumi thought, going back to the movie.

---

As Kouji left the men's room, he thought to himself, '_I knew I shouldn't have drank all those sodas before I came..._'

But then, the scariest thing had happened. Kagura stood at the concession stand buying popcorn, her back facing Kouji. He stopped. Kagura took a large bucket of popcorn... and a box of strawberry pockey, a large soda, and other assorted candies.

She looked over at where Kouji stood, thinking she saw a blur of blue run into the men's room. Kagura shrugged it off and went back to her Minamotinator.

---

Kouji emerged from the restroom once again, now deeply regretting drinking so much. He really needed to cut back, or he'd be running to the bathroom all night. Kouji made his way back to Izumi and plopped down next to her, a curious question tugging at his mind.

"Hey, Izumi, can I ask you something?" Kouji said abruptly.

Izumi turned to him curiously. "Huh? Yeah, sure, what is it?"

"After you broke up with Takuya, the first time," Kouji and her made eye-contact. "Why did you start hanging around with Kouichi so much? Why not one of your girl friends?"

Izumi blushed. "N-no reason, really. Kouichi is just one of those guys who will listen to your problems and try to help, is all."

'_That sure doesn't seem like the Kouichi I know._'

"Oh." Kouji turned back to the movie along with Izumi.

After moments of silence, Kouji asked another question. "Why did you break up with Takuya, anyway?"

Izumi looked back over at him. "It's a long story. But in a summarized form, it just didn't work out. He was to pre-occupied with sports."

"Then why are you back with him?" Kouji asked.

"Takuya said he'd try harder this time." Izumi sighed. "I really don't think I should be dating a guy who is into sports, since it's their main love."

'_That works out nicely._' Kouji thought.

"Anyway," Izumi continued, turning back to the movie. "We're not going out anymore. We decided to end it today and just be friends."

Kouji absorbed this information before resisting the urge to scream in joy. He didn't have to date Kagura no more! Yay!

"I'll be right back, I have to go to the bathroom." '_Again._'

---

Kouji... Kouichi's cell phone began to ring, all the people complaining of the noise. Kouichi answered the phone, muttering something or another to Kagura, and making his way from the theatre.

"Hello?" Kouichi said into the phone.

"_Kouichi! Izumi and Takuya aren't dating anymore! Dump Kagura for me, please!_"

Kouichi looked around him at the room, from the ticket booth, to the concession stand, to the men's room. He had heard some sort of echo.

"Where are you calling me from?" Kouichi asked into the phone.

"_The men's room in the theatre,_" Kouji answered as Kouichi walked into the men's room, seeing Kouji standing there and not noticing him. "Hurry! Break up with Kagura before I get strangled!"

"I'm right here." Kouichi said, hanging up the cell phone.

Kouji noticed him and hung up also. "Break up with her!"

Kouichi sighed. "How can I when I was just acting all lovey-dovey with her and nicknaming her 'Mookie-Jiggles'. By the way, don't be suprised if you're called the Minamotinator tomorrow."

"What...?" Kouji shrugged it off. "Anyway, when will you break up with her?"

"Oooh no!" Kouichi held his hands up. "I'm not doing it, you are."

"What? You're the one who got me into this mess!"

Kouichi ran a hand through his hair, taking the bandana off. "Okay, this is what we'll do. Finish this date thing and once we get home, you can call up Kagura and break up with her over the phone and say 'it's not working out'."

"Fine." Kouji agreed to it, leaving the restroom with Kouichi following him.

---

Once the long, agonizing torture of the movies had ended, both twins and their 'dates' made their way to the door to exit. Unfortunatly for the twins, the two couples had seen eachother.

"...Why are their two Koujis?" Izumi questioned, her arm linked with Kouji's just as Kagura's was with Kouichi.

Kagura stared from her Kouji to the one who had linked arms with Izumi and back.

The twins stared at eachother. This would take a lot of explaining.

**Woo! That's it! I think that was rather long. I'm getting back into the creative mood for this story! Maybe it does have some hope, afterall. Anyway, please review. They're my brain fuel for writing this story:D There was no mention of the list in this chapter... for once... woohoo? Hopefully it'll be mentioned in the next chappie since this story is based off... "The List".**


	6. A Twinge of Hope

**Okay, now I'm back and trying to make each chapter longer by making the font smaller! So once it's uploaded onto it's long! Hooray! Anyway, I've been reading so many good stories lately, that I felt guilty and just had to update. I even wrote the beginning during school I felt so bad! And just so everyone knows, I suppose this story will take place in the month of September, so it's just getting a bit cooler but not yet winter. Enjoy chapter 6!**

---

Chapter 6: Twinge of Hope

---

_**Quick Flashback:**_

_Once the long, agonizing torture of the movies had ended, both twins and their 'dates' made their way to the door to exit. Unfortunatly for the twins, the two couples had seen eachother._

_"...Why are their two Koujis?" Izumi questioned, her arm linked with Kouji's just as Kagura's was with Kouichi._

_Kagura stared from her Kouji to the one who had linked arms with Izumi and back._

_The twins stared at eachother. This would take a lot of explaining._

_---_

"Uh..." Kagura muttered stupidly, still struggling to comprehend the two Koujis.

Kouichi gulped and pointed into the sky. "Look! A penguin!"

Of course, Kouichi making such a stupid attempt to distract Kagura so his twin and his twin's crush could flee the scene and avoid total destruction under Kagura's wrath, resulted in the three staring at Kouichi as if he had suddenly grown rabbit ears and began talking in latin. In other words, as if he was batty.

Kouji coughed and muttered, "Penguins can't fly..."

Izumi began to laugh nervously, but quickly stopped from the awkward silence that followed Kouichi's sudden outburst. Or, at least, she thought it was Kouichi.

Kouji sighed in defeat and turned to Kagura. "Look, Kagura, I-"

"-No, Kouji, look," Kagura began, turning to face Kouichi. "Kouji, it just isn't working out. I mean, you're a great guy and all, but you're a horrible boyfriend! What kind of name is the 'Minamotinater', anyway?"

And with that, leaving the twins dumb-founded, Kagura began to walk away to her home, her brown hair waving at them as she walked. Kouji and Kouichi stared at eachother for a moment, fully trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"I can't believe," Kouji began, astonished. "She dumped me."

The apocalypse would surely be right around the corner.

Kouichi grinned. "I can't believe even after we came face to face, she still though I was you! Rather I did a really good job or she doesn't know you very well!"

"Actually, this worked out conveniently for me." Kouji stated blandly. "Now I don't have to break up with her."

"More like me doing it for you." Kouichi poked his brother in the cheek, earning a glare from his mirror image.

"Uhm... what's going on?"

The two boys turned to Izumi, who had remained silent until now. By the clueless looks on their faces, they had forgotten she had been standing there the entire time.

Kouji sighed. '_Sheesh, now what am I going to do?_'

Nothing better than to tell the truth.

So for the next 32 minutes, the three stood in the cold September night under the lights of the movie theatre as movie-goers passed them to go in and out of the theatre. The boys struggled to explain, Kouichi speaking more than the lone-wolf had, since most of Kouji's words would come out as a mumble of embaressment from the whole situation.

After they had finished explaining only what Izumi needed to know about the movie-theatre plot, they waited patiently for Izumi's reaction which only appeared to be blank, yet wide-eyed.

"Oh... okay... then..." She muttered. "So, uh, Kouichi, if you don't mind me saying, could you take off the bandana? That's Kouji's trademark."

Kouichi blushed, pouted, and reluctantly removed the bandana. "But I looked so cool with it!"

Kouichi handed the bandana to it's rightful owner, who pocketed the thin cloth.

"So, are your parents coming to pick you up, Izumi?" Kouichi asked, grinning.

Izumi shook her head. "No, I told them I'd walk home. They're out shopping for Halloween decorations, even though it's still a month and a half away..."

Kouji and Kouichi looked at eachother, Kouichi with a twinkle in his eye. Kouji sighed in defeat. He had to admit, though, Kouichi did come up with good plans on a spur of the moment. Maybe he was a pathological liar. Either way, it was very convenient at times with Kouichi and his brain children.

_Note: A brain child is a term used by Maki Murakami in her manga, Gravitation, which is hers and not mine, mind you. It's a term for a thought, or a plan. It's a brain child. Get it? Got it? Yay for you!_

"Can I walk you home?" Kouji asked politely, his insides burning up from embaressment, for some reason or another.

Izumi face seemed to brighten up happily. "Sure!"

Kouji stuck his hands in his pockets, looking at Kouichi's grin one last time, and beginning on his walk with Izumi into the darkness.

"It's probably late, now, isn't it?" Izumi began, once several yards away from the light of the theatre and now approaching the lamp post. "We left the movie at 9:40 so it's probably a little after ten."

"Yeah," Kouji muttered, looking back at Kouichi who was on his cell phone with someone. "Yeah, it is."

The conversation died. The two walked in silence. Izumi's house was a mile away from the theatre. Time ticked by and the awkward silence continued until Kouji decided it was time to speak up.

"So, uh," Kouji began hesitantly. "How's that thing going with you and Takuya?"

"Him being my boyfriend, you mean?" Izumi smiling, Kouji blushing. "It's okay right now."

Bang, bang! Down goes the conversation.

What better than to start up another?

"So, you're single now, right, Kouji?" Izumi asked.

"Eh," Kouji shrugged. "I guess since Kagura broke up with me."

"Oh."

Crash. Three strikes and you're out. Kouji went for another round at the conversation game, but they had already reached Izumi's house. She walked down the driveway and up to the porch where the light shone brightly on her, Kouji blushing from the thoughts that came to mind at the sight. He followed her, confidence building up inside of him.

"Well," Izumi shifted her feet nervously. "Thanks for coming with me to the movies, Kouji."

Kouji said nothing. She turned around, a key in hand, and began to unlock the door when a powerful hand came down upon her shoulder. Izumi looked back at Kouji, he hands still over the key and door knob, but no movement coming from it.

In that moment, as most say time stops, it went too quickly for either of them. Kouji leaned in, being a few inches taller than her, and gingerly pecked her on the lips. A very formal kiss. Of course, not saying he didn't want to go furthur than just a peck, but not with Izumi already dating Takuya. He already felt embaressed enough.

With that, Kouji let go of her, leaving her stunned and wide-eyed. Sure, it was only a simple kiss, but it meant everything to both of them.

Kouji turned around. "I'll see you Monday, Izumi."

His voice was back to it's normal self. Cold, monotonous, emotionless. As if hiding his feelings. He began to walk away, hands in pockets and watching the ground in front of him as he walked. The same Kouji she had always remembered.

Izumi sighed and unlocked her door, going in and shutting the door behind her.

---

"Oh my god, you kissed her!" Kouichi exclaimed in an outburst after Kouji had told him how the trip went.

Kouji nodded. "Yeah. She let me kiss her. At least, I think she did...I kinda forced it on her, but she didn't push me away or anything so I guess that's a good sign."

"Woot!" Kouichi yelled, his voice echoing throughout the house as he slapped his brother on the back. Kouji began to cough from the hit and from Kouichi saying 'woot'. "Way to go! What do you think she'll do on Monday?"

Kouji shrugged, staring down at the carpetted floor of their bedroom. "Dunno."

"Kouji!" Their father yelled from downstairs. "Telephone!"

Kouji sighed and got up from his seat on the bed, running down the stairs and taking the phone from his father. He began to walk back upstairs, Kouichi peeking from behind the door frame of the room.

"Hello?" Kouji spoke into the phone.

"_Kouji? It's me, Izumi._"

"Hey," Kouji began to blush, reaching his room and Kouichi shutting the door behind him. "What's up?"

Kouichi struggled to try and listen in, getting as close to Kouji as possible, Kouji swatting him away.

"_Uhm, well, I wanted to know if it was okay if we could hang out tomorrow..._"

Kouji's heart leapt. Kouichi had heard parts of what Izumi said, but it was enough to understand. Kouichi made movement with his hands meaning 'go on!'.

He gulped before talking back into the phone. "Yeah, sure. When?"

"_I thought that maybe we could go walk around and think of a few things._"

"Uhm, okay, I'll come by your house tomorrow at eleven, okay?" Kouji said, glaring at a pestering Kouichi.

"_Sounds great. See-ya._"

_Click._

She had hung up, shortly followed by Kouji pressing the little button on the phone to end the Izumi-less conversation.

"She sounded sad." Kouichi said, sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, his hands in between his legs on the chair and his legs swinging back and forth. A habit that annoyed Kouji. "Like depressed, almost."

Kouji nodded. "Yeah. I guess, now that I think about it."

"Better take that list with you, huh?" Kouichi said, smiling.

Kouji blinked stupidly, having completly forgotten about the list. He looked over at his desk where it sat, folded up into a neat little square in all its glory.

He shook his head. "I don't need it. I can go hang out with Izumi and not need some stupid list there to help me."

"Suit yourself." Kouichi shrugged and stood up, leaving the room to go brush his teeth.

'_Yeah, I don't need that list..._' Kouji thought, beginning to change into his pajamas. '_There's actually a little bit of hope, now, that I might be able to kiss Izumi again._'

---

**Alright. Hope that's long enough. Thought it'd be good to end it here.**

**Just so you all know, there is actually a moral to this story! Sort of like Lord of the Flies. The title doesn't have much to do with the story, but it sort of does. Anyway, it's beginning to get a little fluffy, right? Did I do a good job? And there were no cussing I think in this chapter! Hooray!**

**R&R**

**-Yume**


	7. Girl Language

**Hmm... if only I had a clue on what to make happen now. It's so difficult to play God. Oh well, I'll wing it. Hopefully I'll add in tons of fluff, humorous boy talk, and then another dilemma. Damn. I might have to boost up the rating, too...**

**Oh, and be happy, I mentioned the digital world in here.**

**Disclaimer:**

**Don't own nothin' except for the plot. Not a thing. I put in a lil' thing about Pirates of the Caribbean, just for my best friend, Mark, who is overly obssessed with it.**

---

Chapter 7: Girl Language

---

_**Quick Flashback:**_

_Kagura broke up with Kouji. Kouji walked Izumi home and made a move on her. Kouji went home and gossiped with Kouichi, receiving a phone call shortly after from Izumi, who requested to hang out with Kouji the next day, which would be Saturday. Kouji agreed which brings us to this chapter._

---

"Okay, if Izumi says that she doesn't want you to walk her home or buy her anything, it's a lie!" Kouichi exclaimed, prep-talking Kouji just 38 minutes before the agreed time to meet Izumi. "Girl's always say it backwards! Like if they try and shrug something off, they sometimes want you to pursue! It's evil methods of making us drool over them, like you are now!"

Kouji chomped his mouth shut and wiped off his mouth with his sleeve.

Kouichi grinned. "Alright, now, take these," Kouichi shoved chocolates into Kouji's arms. "On second thought, that might be a hint that she's so thin she looks anorexic..." He grabbed back and the chocolates. "Or flowers, perhaps." Flowers were then shoved into his arms. "That could be taken as offensive... like she smells bad or something..."

"What are you so worried about?" Kouji snapped, careful not to damage the flowers as Kouichi took them back. "Izumi isn't that kind of girl."

"But she's a girl!" Kouichi objected, setting the flowers carefully next to the chocolates on the bed. "Girl's are mysterious and complex creatures! Like a giant maze, with all the twist, turns, and you never know what's going to be around the corner. You can never be too safe with a maze like a girl."

Kouichi ranted on.

Kouji twitched at what Kouichi had said. '_That type of line has been used in movies so much that it's imprinted in Kouichi's mind. Nice. Now he's going to suddenly blurt out something like-_'

"I'll be back." Kouichi said in his best Terminater impression, which was not very impressive. "You gotta be all mucho like that! Trust me, mom used to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah all the time. And not only that, but girls always go for the ones who are tall, dark, and handsome."

"Like a Spanish model?" Kouji replied boredly, falling back onto the bed with arms outspread. He began to count how many little dots could be found on the ceiling.

Kouichi had been ranting on and on all morning. Lecturing Kouji about what cologne to wear, what to dress in, and how to woo Izumi. He claimed to be a ladies man. Actually, Kouichi was a ladies man. He was the famous Kouji Minamoto's twin brother, so naturally girls would through themselves at the guy who looked closest alike to their idol. Especially the girls who were in the fan club called 'Hottie Twins,' a fan club specially dedicated to the brothers in all their hotness.

Kouji leaned his head over to look at the small red letters on the digital alarm clock. Exactly 24 more minutes until eleven am.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Ranting.

Counting.

Tick.

Rant.

Count.

Tock.

Count.

Now it was 23 more minutes. How much more torture would he go through!

"And did you know that playing the song 'Everytime' by Britney Spears backwards-"

"Kouichi!" Kouji sat up. "Shut up, will you? I have to go, anyway."

"Good lu-uck!" Kouichi sing-songed, grinning and waving as Kouji left.

---

_**The rest of this is going to be from Kouji's POV. It's going to be Kouji's mind and... yeah. I just thought it would be interesting to get into his mind. I've also been wanting to write a part of this story like this.**_

Walking up the porch, to the door, now standing directly in front of Izumi's door. Oh jesus, I never thought that I would actually be asked out by Izumi. And now thanks to Kouichi, I'm going to have that damn Britney Spears song stuck in my head...

Steady. Raise your right arm and knock three times. I knock, and after a minute of waiting, get no reply. A weird sound suddenly rings through my ears. It sounds sort of like... a monster? No wait... that's my stomach growling. I would have eaten breakfast this morning but nooo... Kouichi has to say, "You might get gas! No food!" and smack my hand with a spoon that is wet with milk from his cereal.

Izumi hadn't heard me the time I knocked. What's this feeling in my stomach? I've never felt it before, how weird. Wait- take that back. I always feel that whenever I'm around Izumi. It's described as 'butterflies in your stomach' but in reality, it's more like the feeling you're about to vomit.

I knock again, harder this time so Izumi can hear me.

"Just a minute!" I hear Izumi's voice and quickly look up, only to catch a glimpse of her blonde hair from the window.

Or maybe it's not butterflies. I am hungry, afterall. And being nervous and hungry at the same time is never a good combination, it results in vomitting. Which is bad. What if I were to vomit all over Izumi?

And then the door opens. And there stands Izumi, in all her beautiful glowing glory. Flawless skin, perfect body, beautiful face. Oh god... I almost vomitted... Hold it down, Kouji. Just wait until she's not standing in front of you.

Thank-you Kouichi, for making me bring along that bottle of Axe body spray... and breath mints... and anything else you deemed absolutly necessary.

"Ready to go?" Izumi asked happily, a smile on her face. She shut the door to her house and locked it, tucking the keys carefully into her small purple gucci bag. Wait- since when did she have a purse thing! She was never this feminine in the digital world.

I nodded and stuck my hands into my pockets as we began to walk.

"I hope I'm not taking you away from any plans..." Izumi said apoligetically.

"No, I had nothing to do today, anyway." I responded as cool as possible, even though I felt like I was about to vomit. "I'm glad you wanted to hang out, or I'd be stuck with Kouichi wanting to watch Terminator all day."

Izumi smiled. "That must be his favorite movie."

I sighed. "Yeah, he likes a lot of American movies."

"I saw an American movie once," Izumi spoke, a cherry blossom falling past her face. "It was... uhm... Pirates of the Caribbean. It was really good."

Kouichi once rambled about that movie. Of course, being me, I wasn't paying no attention. I was too busy trying to sleep. But can you blame me?

"What was it about?" I ask, just to end the awkward silence.

"A pirate named Captain Jack Sparrow," Izumi began. "And... you'd have to see it. It's good, though. Maybe we'll rent it sometime and watch it?"

I blush. She just implied getting together. Again. How am I ever going to live out my... dreams... if I can't even stop blushing at the mention of a date with Izumi? Everytime I try to fly- ah! Stupid Britney Spears!

Now, I realize, we're at a pier which reaches out quite a ways away. Several men are fishing from it. There are white bars on the edges to prevent the little children, who still try their best to fall in, from falling in. The nervous mothers and calm fathers are standing there, trying to show their kids a good time by taking them to a pier, but the children are still only noticing the little spider devouring a bug.

Little worms.

"A pier?" I question as Izumi steps onto it. And I stop.

Izumi looks back at me, confused. "Yeah. We don't really have anywhere else to go, so I thought the pier would be good."

Reluctantly I step onto the boards, annoyed at the little children looking at me. I glare at them, and they begin to cower and go back to their spider. A few even run to their parents. It reminded me of what Kouichi and I never really did, go to a pier with our parents just for the fun of it.

Izumi leads the way while I hesitantly walk behind her, hunched over. It's not that I'm afraid of water or anything, it's just the fact that without my wings, I feel so small- Britney! Dammit! Gooo away! No, really, I just don't want to be around these annoying little kids. Which is why I try to look as mean as possible.

Soon enough, Izumi took notice of my lagging behind, and being Izumi, had to do something about it. She sighed, walked back to me, and withdrew my right hand from my pocket, thus grabbing it gingerly and leading the way once again.

Since when had Izumi become so assertive?

After the Digital World, duh.

Oh wait- she's holding my hand. Holy shit! Ah! The blush-! The blush-! I can't block it out! Not only that, but now those butterflies have come back. Those damn butterflies. This salty air isn't doing any good, either. It's not like I've spent my whole life here, fishing, like these people.

Okay, okay, let's concentrate. My name is Kouji Minamoto, I'm 15 years old, in high school, and I have a twin brother. Oh god, now there's two Izumi's walking in front of me, pulling me as we go.

We finally reach the end of the pier.

"Wow, the water is really pretty with the sun shining on it." Izumi admired the view.

While I admired the blinding light that shone in my eyes. And before I know it, dizziness has taken over, and I am now leaning over the white railing with cobwebs and spiderwebs on it, vomitting last nights meal into the sea for all the fishies to enjoy.

I wonder what Izumi's doing now? Freaking out? Trying to hold my hair back even though it's already in a pony tail and bandana?

Now I feel better.

And there it comes again. Damn you, butterflies.

After minutes of vomitting, I manage to stand up straight after spitting into the sea. What a bad taste it leaves. I look around, the two Izumi's merging into one clear Izumi. I look around more, to find I have scared off all the fishers, children, and parents away. Only one fisherman remained, who was an elderly man and probably used to seeing this type of thing from young teens.

"Are you okay now?" Izumi asked in a concerned manner.

I quickly dig into my coat jacket. Not there. I search my pant pockets and find the breathmints, quickly throwing about three or four into my mouth at once.

"Yeah." I manage to muffle through all the mints that burned my taste buds. Just like that one time when I dared Takuya to eat an entire bag of sour skittles at once. His taste buds burned right off and he couldn't taste anything but skittles in his mouth for two days.

"I guess you don't want to get anything to eat, then, huh?" Izumi joked.

A small smile creeped on my face. I couldn't stop it. Izumi was good at handling every kind of situation.

Except for one.

"Uhm," Izumi leaned herself on the railing. "I actually wanted to come here to talk to you about something."

"What's that?" I ask, the mints disolved in my mouth. I lean on the railing with her, trying to enjoy the breeze and sight now that I feel better.

"Last night, after you left," Izumi said. "I got a phone call from Takuya."

Jealousy rose at that name. "What'd he want?"

"He dumped me because he has a crush on Kagura."

Right there and then, I thought for sure we were in a parallel universe.

Okay, let me get this straight now... Takuya dumped the most awesome woman in the world for Kagura?

We're talking about the same Kagura?

Oh my god.

"And I just wanted someone to talk to about it, was all." Izumi finished with a deep sigh.

"Why would he dump you for Kagura?" I said, anger taking over. "I mean, hell, you're a lot prettier and smarter than Kagura. You make a better girlfriend, so why would he dump you for her?"

Oh damn, I just blew it. I practically confessed everything. Like if Izumi were the father in the church and I sat on one side of the box, confessing all my sins by saying 'father, I love you'. Although, it would technically be 'mother'...

I saw Izumi look at me in suprise from the corner of my eye. Then I noticed her blush. That's gotta be worth some points.

"Why did he dump you in the first place, anyway?" I asked, feeling as if I was already on a roll. Confident.

Izumi giggled... sadly? I've never heard her giggle sadly. It's weird, Izumi has always been so optimistic, and yet no one would be her friend. What's not to like about this girl?

"He liked Kagura then, too." Izumi shrugged. "And then he said he got over her, went back out with me, and has his old crush back again."

It's like a circle. A repeat. History does repeat itself. Maybe I'll get lucky and history will repeat itself from last night, when I-

Ah screw it. I'll make it happen. A girl in need usually needs a supportive guy, right? That's the secret to girl language. Well, sort of, for this situation it is. A guy to be there for her when she's been there for all of the Digidestined before. Been there for everyone she could.

I turn towards Izumi and reach out my left hand. I wrap my arm around her waist and draw her close, Izumi blushing madly. But right now, I'm not blushing. This is completly serious. I need to show Izumi how much I really care for her, and my breath should smell really good from all those breathmints.

Even the Britney Spears song is gone from my head. Everything is perfect.

So I lean in, and kiss her. History has repeated itself. Only this time on a pier, in the sunlight, for everyone to witness. And Izumi doesn't mind. She even wraps her arms around my neck and deepens the kiss.

It seemed like hours, much different from the previous kiss, which went by so quickly I couldn't even mesmorize the taste in her lips. But now I have all the time in the world. A pirate kissing the woman who he worked so hard to save.

I began to trace my right index finger up and down her back, a small grin coming on as we continued to kiss. She shuddered at the touch, but didn't want to stop kissing. Which I'm fine with.

This is the best day of my life.

Until a fish suddenly came flying at me and hit me in the face, separating Izumi and I as I struggled to wipe the fish slime from my face. I look over, to see the one remaining elderly fisherman grinning at me. The bastard. He purposely did that.

"Damn horny teenagers." The man muttered as he went back to fishing, happy to interupt my moment of happiness.

I growl and begin to roll my sleeve up. I'll beat that old man!

I walk over and grab the man up by his jacket, tossing him over the railing and into the water.

"Damn kids!" He yells at me, shaking his fist as he sinks down, his fish swimming away.

I wish.

No, in reality, I sighed in defeat and Izumi intertwined her fingers in mine. She was obviously happy, even though our moment of bliss was interupted of so rudely.

But now that I think about it, Kouichi was absolutly wrong. Girls mean what they say and do, sometimes they don't. But I think it's easy to tell when that time is.

Right now, though, Izumi really wants to do is walk around town, holding my hand, and showing all those damn members of the 'Hottie Twins' club that I belong to her now.

I soon remember that there is a dance coming up. One that I should ask Izumi to go to with me and keep our relationship a secret until then, to suprise everyone in one shocking moment. Even the teacher's mouths would hang open.

And Izumi agrees with the plot. I can now get back at Kouichi. Muahaha.

---

**Not the end, not the end... I wanna make this story around or more than 10 chapters so it's not over yet. I'm still working and making some problems emerge for our seemingly happy couple. I'll find some, I'll read some fanfictions tonight and get some ideas. More better fluff to come eventually, possibly even a higher rating. But no worries, there shall be no lemon/lime in here. I can't write those, I just suck at it...**

**Eh, hope ya liked it. You better review. Or I'll be sad for missing watching The 40 Year Old Virgin just to write this tonight. TT**

**-Yume**


	8. Dreaming

**Here is chapter eight. I've been considering deleting this story, but decided against it. I'm just gonna try and finish it instead of giving up, even though I am very un-satisfied with it.**

**Disclaimer:**

**Neh. Go to chapter one.**

---

Chapter 8: Dreaming

---

_**Quick Flashback:**_

_Izumi and Kouji went on a 'date'. The two went to the pier, where Kouji puked and Izumi confessed that Takuya had broken up with her. Kouji, disguised as comforting her, kissed Izumi and the two sorta began to date. Sorta. There is no guarantee, but I suppose we can always assume. The two decided not to tell anyone else until the dance that Saturday._

---

"I didn't know that the dance had been themed Halloween." Kouji said, walking next to Kouichi in the halls of school.

"Yep." Kouichi stated happily. "Since the dance is in October, they decided to just make it Halloween themed for the fun of it. You have to come in a costume, though, or they kick you out."

Kouji sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets that seemed to be molded to fit around his hands now. "I don't know what I can go as, though."

"A love-sick puppy." Kouichi suggested honestly, earning a glare. "Kidding. How about a knight? Or a serial killer? Or Chococat?"

"Chococat?" Kouji repeated. "Isn't that something similar to 'Hello Kitty'?"

"Yes." Kouichi answered blandly. "I think you'd make a great Chococat."

"I'll just go as a giant pumpkin." Kouji said sarcastically.

"Good idea! Chococat can be the back-up plan!"

'_Agh, why can't Kouichi just leave me alone? I want to have an actual moment of peace and quiet... in the janitor's closet. If only Izumi hadn't gotten sick, she would be here and all over me- oh wait. That's right. We agreed not to tell anyone yet... I hate Mondays. I musn't let these thoughts get to me, though! Dammit, concentrate!_'

"Oh," Kouichi said suddenly, breaking Kouji from his fantasy and back into reality. "You never did tell me what had happened with you and Izumi. Did she question you about kissing her?"

Kouji shook his head sadly. "No, we just hung out like normal friends would. But I did accidentally... vomitted... while we were visiting the pier."

"Hey! Kouji, Kouichi!"

Oh bloody hell.

Approaching the twins, was someone that Kouji was very familiar with. A student one grade higher than them and one of JP's buddies, who Kouji (and everyone else) considered very annoying. Just look at that pretty boy. With his stupid foreign blonde hair and his blue eyes. And that tan! Agh, how it annoyed Kouji so very much!

How did this foreign exchange student come to be friends with JP? For their love of food, of course. Yet somehow this guy never managed to gain a pound. Thank high metabolism for that.

This pretty boy's name? Andy Clark.

As he walked up to them, he suddenly tripped on thin air and fell face-first onto the floor with a loud thud.

Not only is he a pretty boy foreign blondie, but a clutz also. Just an accident waiting to happen. That's Andy in a nutshell. But that doesn't mean that he isn't popular with the ladies, mind you. He is foreign, afterall, and that can get you somewhere.

Kouji raised an eyebrow.

"Are you okay, there, Anday?" Kouichi said casually, used to the situation.

Andy got right back up and onto his feet, giving the two the thumbs up. "I wanted to ask you guys if you've seen Izumi, since I know you're good friends with her."

"She's home sick." Kouichi answered while Kouji stood there silently. "I can go give her a message, you know, if you want."

"No thanks, Kouichi," Andy smiled. Damn those pearly whites. "I wanted to personally ask her."

"Ask her what?"

"If she wanted to go to the dance this Saturday with me."

Kouji's fists clenched. That was **his** property, not Pansy's... Kouichi took notice to the change in Kouji's expression. Instead of the bored and slightly amused Kouji, he had been ultimatly taken over by jealousy and anger towards this poor little foreigner. Pity.

"Well," Andy waved. "I'll see you guys later."

Andy ran off to who knows where, leaving one pitiful twin and one very angry twin.

"And the problems keep coming..." Kouji muttered, sighing to release, or at least contain, his anger.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Kouichi assured. "Izumi's known you longer than him. She's even told us her secrets in the Digital World. I think between you and Anday, you'd win."

"Yeah, but what if I don't?" Kouji sighed.

"Well," Kouichi pondered. "Why don't you try opening up to her a little bit? I'm not saying go and confess your undying love for her, but open up a little."

Kouji shot his twin a glare. He wasn't in the mood for Kouichi's little plot twists now.

"For crying out loud," Kouichi tried to talk some sense into Kouji. "He's just foreign! He hardly knows Izumi and he's a complete clutz, why in all the hells would she go for him? And he's blonde! Why would any girl in their right mind go for a blonde guy!"

"Because it's foreign." Kouji mimicked the female stalkers of Andy Clark.

"Oh get over it, Kouji... Izumi's yours. We just have to convince Anday that. Did you ask Izumi to the dance yet?"

Kouji sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "No, or I would have told Andy off right then and there."

---

After school that night, Kouji had to stay after for detention. Why? He had been late for class one to many times. It was about 5 pm when Kouji finally left the school and began walking to a house. Not his house, but Izumi's home.

'_I wonder how she's feeling,_' Kouji thought as he walked. The sun was at a point in the sky where it glared and stun his eyes from almost every direction. '_I hope she's not too sick. I was actually looking foward to the dance this Saturday. I can imagine the looks on their faces._'

_Kouji and Izumi stepped into the amazing ball room wearing a formal tuxedo and a large, white dress that looked like a cake. Izumi's blonde hair was held up in fancy accessories with silk white gloves covering her arms. They walked arm in arm to the middle of the room. Everyone fell silent as they passed._

_Most people's faces were blocked out by the masquerade masks they wore, but some wore no masks and were recognizable._

_"Stupid Kouji stole my date!" Andy Clark exclaimed angrily. "I'll get him back!"_

_With a sudden pop, Andy was turned into a squealing pig that was then taken into the kitchen._

_"Stupid Kouji stole my girlfriend!" Takuya growled. "I'll get him back!"_

_With a sudden pop, Kagura appeared and the two danced on cloud 9, Takuya forgetting his anger._

_"Stupid Kouji stole my woman!" JP sulked. "Oh well..."_

_With a sudden pop, the chefs brought out a freshly cooked pig. JP's attitude changed and now he was happy as a daisy._

_"Way to go Kouji!" Kouichi cheered from the crowd of girls in the Hottie Twins fan club, one girl feeding him grapes as he lounged back comfortably._

_Kouji and Izumi positioned themselves as the fancy and formal music played. The teachers and students all admired them. Look at them, dancing all perfectly like the perfect couple they are!_

'_Okay, that was amusing at first, but now it's somewhat scary._' Kouji thought to himself. '_But that would probably be their reactions. Probably._'

Kouji reached Izumi's house and walked up the steps of the porch, ringing the doorbell. He heard a loud 'thunk' and then a crash. Someone ran down the stairs and to the door, opening it slowly and peeking out to see who it was. Then the door opened wide revealling a rather green Izumi wearing purple pajamas.

"...Did I get you sick by accident?" Kouji asked, concerned for his girlfriend.

Izumi just smiled. "Nope," She sniffed and pulled a tissue from her pajama pocket to wipe her nose. "Well, yeah, heh. Did you come here to see Kouichi?"

"Kouichi?" Kouji's brow furrowed. "What's he doing here?"

"He came over to visit and see how I was doing since you were at detention and he had no one to bother." Izumi laughed and then sniffed. "We've just been talking. Do you want to come in?"

Kouji stepped into the house and took off his shoes, hearing several things coming from the kitchen. More than likely Kouichi, making some kind of special soup of his to make Izumi feel better. It made Kouji glad he hardly got sick. Those damn viruses.

'_Why didn't Kouichi tell me he was coming over here?_' Kouji pondered. '_Is he hiding something from me?_'

"Hiya twin-dawg!" Kouichi leaned out of the kitchen to look at Kouji and Izumi, standing by the door. "My homie here was sick so I got my butt right on over to da hood to make her some special soup!"

'_I guessed correctly._'

"You might not want to eat that," Kouji suggested to Izumi after Kouichi went back into the kitchen. "It'll just make you even more sick."

Izumi gulped. "I don't want to hurt his feelings, though."

"Trust me, it takes a lot of work to bruise his pride or his head for that matter."

"Homie twin-dawg! I need you in here ASAP, word! And patient-homie, get back to bed!"

Kouji glanced at Izumi at the same moment she glanced at him. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Izumi turned away, blushing under her slightly green skin. She walked back to the stairs and up to her room as the Doctor ordered.

Kouji sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, walking into the chaotic kitchen. Where on Earth Izumi's parents were, Kouji had no idea. Visiting Italy?

"Kouji-dawg, I need-"

"I need you to stop talking like that." Kouji snapped irritably.

There were several different ingredients to Kouichi's soup lining the counters and one giant pot on the stove, steam emmitting from the beige-colored substance. Was that a spider that just fell into that soup? Even the soup kills spiders... and he expects people to eat that.

"Right, haha, anyway," Kouichi grinned sheepishly. "How was detention?"

Kouji glared at Kouichi. What kind of question was that?

"Yeah, anywho, now would be a good time for your to ask Izumi to the dance." Kouichi shoved a tray with a bowl of soup, a glass of water, and utensils lay. "Take that to her room and give it to her, you can ask her then, I'll stay down here until then. If you need anything, just talk to me through our mental-twin-connection-mabobbler."

"Right," Kouji turned to go. "Thanks Kouichi."

"No problem twin-dawg!"

Kouji sighed and made his way carefully up the stairs and to Izumi's room. Which one was it again? The doors all looked identical. Didn't this girl have any weird posters on her door that read something catchy like, 'girls only' or 'Izumi's room' or even 'beware of mood swings'?

People say opposites attract, and Izumi was definetly the opposite of Kouji. So maybe if he just concentrated, he would suddenly fly foward and into the door where Izumi was, like a magnet!

...No, that was a dumb idea.

So instead he decided to open every door until he found her room. Hopefully she wasn't naked.

Take that back.

Now, don't imagine him as the little old Kouji from the Digital World. Oh no! It's been a few years and that meant some growrth spurts meaning manly muscles and chest hair. Well, none yet, but... it was only a matter of time. The point of the matter is, Kouji was no longer a little boy who thought girl's were stupid creatures. Kouji was now a teenager with raging hormones.

Damn puberty. Damn viruses. Damn hormones. Damn-

He opened a door and found Izumi sitting up in her bed, flipping through the channels on a small TV with the remote in her hand. She looked over surprisingly.

"Kouji! You scared me..." She took in a few breathes.

Damn, she wasn't... naked at the right moment when he came in. Damn his luck!

Not only had Kouji grown some, but so had Izumi. There's no point in even telling of those changes.

Except for the fact that Kouji didn't mind them. Change can be very good.

He took a seat on the edge of the bed and handed the tray with hot soup to her. Izumi set down the remote and quickly took the tray from him, setting it on her lap that was protected from the heat by blankets. She took the spoon in her hands and dipped it into the soup, pulling it out, and then proceeding to blow on it to cool down.

"I'm hot-" Kouji caught himself quickly. "It's hot. It's very, very hot soup. Be careful."

Izumi smiled again. "Thanks."

She began to eat. Now or never.

"Does Kouichi know about...?"

"No," Izumi giggled. "He just came over on his own accord."

"Well, he thinks I'm up here asking you to the dance."

"You can if you want."

Kouji smirked. "Oh Izumi dearest, would you like to go to the royal ball with me?"

"Of course, dearest Kouji!" She replied playfully.

The two laughed together.

By the time she finished her soup, the tray was on the floor next to the bed, and Kouji had removed his jacket, bandana, and hair tie. He climbed under the covers and into the bed with Izumi, the two fitting together like puzzle pieces. Kouji wrapped his arm around her waist, his chin atop her head on the pillows.

Izumi held the hand that was around her waist and closed her eyes with a content sigh. Kouji re-entered his dream of Izumi and him dancing perfectly at the ball, JP happily feasting on a cooked pig, Takuya and Kagura dancing on cloud 9, Kouichi surrounded by those fan-girls he loves so much and-

Kouji's eyes suddenly widened. Oh well, he could stand being sick for this moment.

Ooh... those damn hormones are at it again.

---

**I tried to get it a little bit romance-ish. There's not going to be any lemons in this, that's for sure, cause I can't write them. I had a hard enough time writing this! I haven't had a good relationship in about... a long time! So I'm writing this based on other stories I read and heard from my friend and fanfiction stories.**

**By the way, any suggestions for the costumes for the dance? I have something in mind for Kouji, but I'm drawing a blank for everyone else.**

**R&R**

**-Yume**


	9. Expired Happiness

**Hooray for chapter nine, only one chapter away from ten! I've got the plot for the rest of the story all figured out, so there is going to be a total of 13 chapters. Each chapter will be a day of the week up until Saturday, when the dance is! So, sorry for the long not-update again. I was sick with a terrible flu most of the week. **

**Now, not only that, but I'm going to Florida for Spring Break with my neighbor/best friend and his family! Yay Disney World!**

**Chapter 8 Reviewer Thank-Yous:**

**izumi minamoto**

**MattxLuver**

**devilleader**

**MononokeKitsune**

**Luisa P.**

**Anyway, enjoy! (Even though my grammar sucks)**

**By the By: This isn't a happy chappy.**

**Disclaimer: **

**I do not own any of the characters in this story except for the unrecognizable characters and the plot line.**

---

Chapter 9: Expired Happiness

---

"I just don't get it."

"What?"

"What's so funny about saying 'he, she, it' really fast? It doesn't make any sense."

Kouji sighed at his brother. Izumi just laughed and tightened her grip on Kouji's hand under the lunch table so no one could see.

"You two are sitting _awfully_ close today," JP commented suspiciously. "Are you two perhaps _hiding _something from us?"

A light blush crept on Kouji's cheeks as Izumi flashed a smile at JP. "I didn't even notice how close we were sitting. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Kouji."

Izumi scooched over a few inches away and their hands broke apart. Kouji felt could all over, missing the warmth radiating from Izumi's body. He felt so... naked. Did that make him a nudist whenever Izumi wasn't near him? Scary thought. How those fan girls would maul him if that were to happen!

"So, Kouichi," Izumi broke the awkward silence. "Are you still coming over after school?"

"Yep!"

"For what?" Kouji asked rather irritably.

"We're working on a secret project," Kouichi explained to Kouji with a playful wink. "A costume for the Halloween Dance that no one is allowed to see until it's finished. And because Izumi sucks at sewing, I offered to help her with it."

'_...Is is just me, or is Kouichi beginning to sound gayer by the second?_' Kouji thought to himself. '_I mean, sewing? It's like queer eye for the straight gal! Why couldn't they make a show like... make out with the straight gal or something that I could partake in?_'

Kouji fell silent as usual as the others talked about the latest movies, music, and gossip.

"So, seriously, what's so funny about it?" Kouichi continued.

"About what?" JP asked through a spoon full of... what the hell is it? A special rice puke mix?

"That 'he, she, it' thing!"

Andy, who sat next to Kouichi and JP, leaned over and whispered something in his ear, since he was the only one who knew enough english at the table to understand the joke. Kouichi's eyes grew wide as Andy whispered.

Andy leaned back in his seat as Kouichi laughed stupidly. "So that's why I was sent to the principal..."

---

Kouji sat in his second to last hour of the day, absolutly and positively... depressed. He finally got the girl of his dreams, but couldn't show her off to anyone until Saturday. Was it really worth it? Was it worth waiting three more days out of the 'Hottie Twins' fanclubs constant mauling, love letters, and candies? Do they not realize that candies cause cavities, meaning bye-bye 'Hottie Twins' hot smile.

These girls, they are so damn stupid sometimes, lacking a common sense.

But Izumi... she was different. Not the candies and secret love notes kind of girl. She would keep her crush hidden deep within her soul, just like Kouji.

'_But I was weak and it broke out,_' He thought with a sigh, resting his elbows on the desk and then his head on his hand, partially drooling from boredom and carelessness. '_I suppose that's a good thing. But what if it didn't? Would I have ever have shown Izumi my true feelings for her?_'

A ruler suddenly slammed down on his desk nearly hitting his hands. Kouji snapped from his daydreaming and looked up at his teacher, meeting cold eyes.

"Minamoto," The teacher who resembled the grinch sneered at him. "Daydreaming in _my_ class is strictly prohibited."

Kouji remained careless, just listening to his ranting of why he shouldn't daydream in Mr. Grinch's class.

"So, tell me, Minamoto," Mr. Grinch sneered. "What is the name of a smiggle smink sneer?"

Kouji stared at his teacher lamely. "A smiggle smink sneer."

"Wrong, I made that up," Mr. Grinch smiled with glee. Insert a cool rhyme here. "What should your punishment be?"

"Steal my christmas..." Kouji said tiredly with a sigh as the class giggled quietly.

Mr. Grinch frowned upon this. "One hour of detention after school today, Minamoto."

"Fuck!" Kouji exclaimed aloud, having had plans to walk Izumi home after school.

Mr. Grinch scowled. "Make that two."

---

After the two hours of detention, the sun was making its way slowly downward towards sunset. Not only was the sun sleepy, but Kouji as well who currently dragged his feet tiredly down the sidewalk to Izumi's house, his eyes slowly drooping shut from both the sun and his fatigue. He was hunched over with both hands in his pockets, eyes watching the concrete.

School was boring enough, but going through it while having to hold back all his pent up feelings for Izumi was just exhausting. He finally gets the girl, but he doesn't get the girl. Westerns suck.

'_One day,_' Kouji thought (or did he mumble?) to himself. '_We're gonna get married and have lots o' little babies. No... kids are pains in the asses. More like just one kid, maybe two. A boy and a girl. Twins. Yeah, twin babies with pretty blonde hair and... what color are my eyes?_'

Kouji couldn't have cared less.

'_Yep. Little boy named Tohru or Ryoto and a little girl named... uh... Sakura or something. Perfect happy hap family._'

The Digidestined had grown quite a bit since their adventures in the Digital World.

'_Who the hell is bringing these topics to my head to make me reminisce?_' Kouji wondered, brow furrowed as he frowned at the blinding sun. '_But that voice is right. We've actually matured a lot. I remember (episode 9) when Tommy was being controlled by that one Digimon and he tried to attack Izumi, but I managed to save her. Knight in shining armor, I suppose._

'_Then there was that time (episode 10) when someone from the Digidestined finally began to understand me. Izumi had told me she understood why I wanted to be alone and she let me go without a fight. Then that one time (episode 16) when she hugged me... agh, I swear if I had been going through puberty at the time... Izumi freaked out once (episode 20) and literally clung to me. That would have been another 'oops' instance if it weren't for me being under developed at the time. _

'_And she even wore my jacket once! I haven't even washed it since. I just bought a new and exact replica of one so the other would stay in perfect condition. So many chances... thank god I was a child._'

Kouji pondered a moment. '_...Why on Earth am I remembering all this stuff?_'

For the evidence of the relationship for CloakedFox, of course!

All that reminiscing caused by the mysterious voice had seemed to make the tired walk to Izumi's home seem less long. Before Kouji towered Izumi's door. Kouji withdrew his right hand from his pocket and knocked the classic three times on the wooden door.

No answer.

He knocked four times and waited.

No answer.

He knocked three times and counted to thirty in his head.

No answer.

Kouji grew impatient and worried, deciding to just enter. Boyfriends were aloud to do that, right? Right.

The door was surprisingly unlocked. Kouji walked in, slamming the door behind him and not bothering to stay quiet and hidden. He was hoping to attract some sort of attention from it, anyway.

But there was still no answer.

A faint music came to his ears. A piano. A violin. An orchestra? It was played in a lucidly romantic style. Was Izumi mad at him for getting detention and not having the chance to tell her?

The music came from upstairs. As a curious wolf cub would do, Kouji followed the music, leading up the stairs, down the hall, and to Izumi's room. Or at least what he presumed was Izumi's room.

Faint voices came from the room. One was definetly Izumi's voice, but whos was the other? A male, no doubt. If it wasn't a guy, then that girl had a deep voice. But then who could it be? Who would Izumi cheat with on Kouji? Did JP finally get a chance? Or maybe Takuya went back on Kagura? Or even Andy?

Kouji quietly pressed his ear against the door. It didn't do much good.

The voices suddenly broke into a laughter and then it went quiet again. Kouji grew suspicious and while the music hit a particularly loud note, turned the handle, and creaked the door open enough for him to poke his head through enough to make his eyes widen in shock.

Everything became a blur of tears as Kouji rushed down the stairs and left the door to Izumi's room open. Izumi ran out, calling his name.

They were kissing. Not just a peck, but a deep kiss with tongues tangoing with one another.

'_How could you do this to me,_' Kouji thought in his mind as he ran to his house. '_I thought I could trust you not to steal Izumi from me, Kouichi!_'

---

**Cliffhanger, yo.**

**Don't worry! It will all work out in the end. But I will say now, Kouji was not seeing things, they were in fact having a make-out session, Kouichi and Izumi were. No ifs, ans, or buts about it!**

**I'm hoping to get at least 7 reviews for this chapter. Seven! That's all I ask. So please, if you are reading this story, REVIEW! Every author loves reviews. It tickles them pink! Or possibly blue.**

**R&R! (please?)**

**-Yume**


	10. If the World Didn't Suck So Much

**Okay, hi, back from Florida. Got no tan, though. Bummer.**

**Reviewer Responses:**

**Kouichi's Girl: **_Thanks for the review! I hope you can get your computer working soon._

**izumi minamoto: **_Sorry I don't update very fast. I'm lazy and a procrastinator... I think that's how you spell it. But all will be explained... eventually._

**lone wolf: **_I'm putting Kouji through some bad times. They always say in order to appreciate good times, you have to experience bad times! I guess I just decided to add some of the 'real life' spice into the story. I'll apoligize to Kouji later, though, so sorry for putting him through all this!_

**Average Reviewer: **_I know, I know they are all OOC, but I don't get any Digimon on my TV so I can't really watch and find out. Websites aren't much of a help, either. But it's a fanfiction and a few years later than when they went to the Digital World... so maybe they change a bit. But no doubt, they are majorly OOC. As for grammar and stuff, I don't know where I made mistakes, but I know I make them. I need a beta person (stupid Mark won't do it) but I'm too lazy to go in search of one. It's not a very realistic story, I realize, but that's not the point of a comedic fanfiction. This is just a story I write for fun. A side dish of my original stories that don't go on any website and that I actually re-write to get it perfect._

_At least I don't write sentences like, "u r a but hed". Give me a bit of credit here. I know my mistakes, I don't feel like fixing them because this isn't really a story that I am that passionate about. I'm only finishing it for the sake of making the few dedicated reviewers happy._

**MononokeKitsune:** _Thanks for the compliments, but there are some very good authors that are much better writers than me, which is how they get about 200 reviews per chapter. Thanks for the review!_

**DigimonDestined: **_You ask 'how could Kouichi do that'? I'll tell you how: Hormones! Just joking... maybe. Sorry if I made you cry. Thanks for reviewing!_

**Thanks for reviewing, everyone!**

**Disclaimer: Go to Chapter 1, 2, 3, 7, or 9. **

---

Chapter 10: If the World Didn't Suck So Much, We'd All Fall Off.

---

'_I thought I could trust you not to steal Izumi from me, Kouichi!_'

Kouji ran without looking where he was going, too ashamed that he was actually crying in public and running like a sissy to his house. That didn't do much good for his reputation.

Neither did running into a light post and falling unconcious in the middle of the sidewalk.

---

_"Thanks for coming to our wedding, Kouji," Izumi said, standing in her wedding dress only one hour before the wedding would begin. "I'd be really sad if you didn't show up. I think Kouichi would be, too, since you're his twin brother."_

_"Yeah, sure." Kouji kept his eyes away from Izumi._

_"You know, Kouji," Izumi giggled. "The way your posture is, it looks like you're moving your shoulders so they are like a shield around your heart. That's why you don't have a girlfriend, silly."_

I don't have a girlfriend because I never confessed my love to you.

_"Yeah, I guess," Kouji shrugged. "But most girls are stupid and not my type."_

_"I could arrange a date for you with one of my friends!" Izumi suggested happily. "You would probably be lonely here, stuck with JP and Tommy while we're on our honeymoon. It's too bad Takuya doesn't live here anymore. He can't make it to the wedding because he moved away."_

I should just wear a sign on my back that says, 'sorry, girls, I'm gay' just so they'd back off.

_"Do you like the flowers here, Kouji?" Izumi asked. "Kouichi suggested them."_

Kouichi can go die. He knew how much I liked you and he stole you away from me anyway.

_"Hn." Kouji glanced at the flowers._

_"I can't wait until we're finally married!" Izumi whispered. "You know, ever since the Digital World, I've had a crush on you and Kouichi."_

_Kouji looked up at her, confused. "You did?"_

_Izumi nodded. "Yup. It's too bad. I always thought you were the cuter one, even though your twins. I guess it's just your attitude. I don't think I'd be getting married if Kouichi hadn't kissed me."_

_"..."_

_"You two used to be so close, you and Kouichi," Izumi said. "What happened?"_

He stole my girl and she ripped my cold heart out after playing games with it for so long.

_Kouji grabbed Izumi's wrist. "You can't get married to him."_

_She looked up at Kouji, confused. "What?"_

_"You can't get married to him, Izumi." Kouji repeated himself. "He stole this wedding from me. I should be the one marrying you, not him."_

_"But I don't love you, Kouji," Izumi muttered. "I love Kouichi."_

---

Kouji's eyes opened to blinding light. '_Ack, don't tell me I'm still in the Digital World..._'

After a few seconds, Kouji sat up and rubbed his eyes, seeing he was in his room. Kouji glanced at the clock. Ten in the morning. There was a note next to the alarm clock from his step mother.

_Kouji, you suffered quite a head injury last night! You ran into a pole. We took you to the hospital, but they said all you needed was some rest, so we took you home and decided to let you stay home today. Your father and I had to go on a business trip to Hokaido this morning. Well, actually, it was his trip but I just tagged along! We'll be back on Saturday. Take some aspirin and get well soon!_

_ 3 Mom_

Kouji sighed. Ever since the Digital World, she had always called herself his 'Mom'.

'_Saturday's the dance,_' Kouji thought to himself. '_What am I going to do about...?_'

Kouji got off his bed and stomped over to his desk where the accursed list sat. He picked it up and began ripping it to shreds, cursing at it.

"Stupid list," Kouji sighed after he had finished his tantrum on the paper. "Why'd I ever have to find you? None of this would have happened if I would have just ignored you. Just another piece of trash."

Kouji brushed the bits of paper off his desk and into the trashcan, leaving to the bathroom to take some aspirin for his headache.

'_What did **I **ever do to either of them?_' Kouji huffed as he spoke to himself in his mind. '_Absolutely nothing! None of them ever gave a damn about me. They just needed me because I was one of the Digidestined. After that, they just viewed me as anonymous loner again. Nobody cares._'

---

The doorbell rang. Kouji trudged downstairs in his usual clothes with perfect hair, as usual. When Kouji opened the door and saw who it was, he tried to slam the door shut but their foot stopped him from doing so. Kouichi stepped inside with books and papers in his hands, stepping into the house and setting them on the kitchen table.

"Here," Kouichi said with a sigh. "I got your homework for today."

Kouji didn't say anything. How could Kouichi act as if nothing had happened?

Kouichi looked over at his twin. "Look, it's not what you think, okay? I don't like Izumi. She's yours. What happened was that she wanted to impress you so she asked me to give her lessons on kissing. But that's kind of hard to do without actually kissing..."

When Kouji still didn't say anything, Kouichi sighed and made his way to the door.

"Tell Izumi it's over." Kouji stated coldly. "You can have her."

Kouichi spun around, exclaiming, "I don't want her! I'm telling the honest to God truth!"

"Whatever."

Kouichi huffed. "You know what, Kouji? You're reverting to your loner state again and it does nothing but make you lonely. You don't trust anyone, not even your own brother."

With that, Kouichi left, slamming the door behind him to go tell Izumi the bad news.

---

**Short chapter. I know and I apoligize. I'm a bit sad, which is good, it gets me in the mood to write it out like Kouji is depressed and angry at the same time. Having the same attitude as the character you write about usually helps me write a bit easier. Like, it's easier to get into the character!**

**R&R**


	11. The Old Me

**Alright, we are now on chapter 11, Thursday. There are some more mentions of the Digital World here, but I don't actually have any dialogue or anything like that, just short summaries of what happened in these certain episodes. So don't bitch me out because I'm writing this based on a summary of what really happened in the episodes.**

**I only watched a few of the episodes. My favorite that I saw was one of the last ones, when Kouichi dies or something and Kouji gets the spirits of both light and dark or something like that, then he kicks the monsters ass! Genius.**

**Actually, I love all the episodes when Kouichi is stuck as... that black tiger thing. Blackleomon or something along those lines. Duskmon, yeah, that's it.**

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**And lines with numbers in them refers to the episode they are from.**

---

Chapter 11: The Old Me

---

_The one girl that finally understands me... to some extent, and my twin brother has to go and take her. They met in the Digital World but it really didn't seem like there was anything going on between them. I guess I was wrong or just really blind._

_I mean, I risked my life for her! Like when Tommy was possessed by a dream Digimon and tried to attack Izumi. I jumped right in front of her to protect her (9). I did everything within my power to protect her from getting hurt. And how does she repay me? By kissing my brother._

_It took me a hell of a lot of courage to even offer her my jacket (17)! It was a simple task but I got so worked up about it. I never cared what anyone thought about me before: I was Kouji Minamoto. But after I met Izumi, it seemed like whenever she was around, I worried about how I was acting or how I looked, even. At first, it wasn't like that, but as time went on the constant worry in the back of my mind developed._

_What would I do if she were to be injured? To die, even, in the Digital World? How would we explain it to her family?_

_I think it was probably right at that time (20) she hugged me from fear of... something, that I knew it wasn't just embaressment from a girl hugging me. It was embaressment from Izumi hugging me. She did apoligize and I just shrugged it off, even though the blush was hard to hide._

_And she didn't even get mad at me that one time when I wanted to be alone (10)! All she said was, "I understand you like to be alone" and left it at that._

_I didn't even know that she didn't have any friends in the real world. If I did, I might have tried harder to... I dunno, be friendlier or something. She's really a nice person... was a nice person._

_Ever since she got friends besides for the Digidestined, she's changed in some way. I don't know how to describe it._

_I guess she just developed into another kniving woman._

---

Entering the school, Kouji went straight to his locker, ignoring all greetings, looks, offers of a free green parrot named Paulie, or anything that was thrown at him. He had even passed by Kouichi, who, unbeknownst to Kouji, gave him a worried look. All those years of changing were set aside now.

Kouji fumbled with his locker combination. What was it again?... Eleven...?

And to make things worse for him, Izumi was approaching him and soon standing next to him, just staring sadly at his frustrated face. Kouji refused to look away from the lock, still trying to recall his combination that was hidden in the mess of thoughts that was his mind.

"Kouji," She murmured, leaning against the lockers. "Listen, I'm sorry-"

Suddenly, his locker swung open, smacking Izumi right in the face. Kouichi noticed this from his spot and jogged over.

"Izumi, you alright?" Kouichi asked, receiving a nod from the next Marcia Brady.

Kouji quickly put away his books and kept the ones he needed for his next few classes, wanting to avoid his locker and the halls in general as long as possible.

"Kouji, that was rude," Kouichi stated. "Are you gonna apoligize or what?"

The twin with the longer hair grew irritated. Apoligize? Hah. Not after what little miss make-out did with his twin brother, that's for sure.

Saying nothing, Kouji angrily slammed his locker door shut, walking away from the two.

"What's up with him?" JP asked, approaching Izumi and Kouichi, closely followed by Andy.

"He's just being his bitchy self," Kouichi said in frustration. "He's on his period, that's all."

_BTW, I can't even imagine Kouji on his period. I can, however, imagine him pregnant. xD_

---

Kouji sat in class, his elbow resting on the desk with his hand on his cheek. He stared at the board positively... bored. Yes, yes, we all understand that there is a test on Monday.

'_Is it possible that it really was Kouichi?_' Kouji began to wonder, his mind drifting off as the teacher went from talking Japanese to speaking as if she were one of Charlie Brown's teachers. '_Maybe Kouichi really was Duskmon and he was doing everything on purpose. Ah, no, that's stupid... Kouichi wouldn't-_'

But then the haunting thoughts of peeking through the door to see his twin brother kissing his girlfriend flashed through his mind.

'_I thought he wouldn't do that, either._'

---

The highlight of Kouji's day was leaving the school to go home, eat cookie dough, and watch Lifetime.

Wait...

The highlight of Kouji's day was leaving the school to go home.

But as he left the school, Kouji noticed Izumi and Andy standing by the school wall, talking about something or another. Kouji stood out of sight, close enough to understand exactly what was being said.

"Sorry, Andy," Izumi was saying. "I'm already going to the dance with someone."

"Huh? Who?"

"Ehm," Izumi hesitated.

'_Me,_' Kouji thought in his mind. '_Wait, I'm mad at Izumi, I'm not going to the dance with her... But-_'

"Kouichi," Izumi answered. "We're going as friends."

Kouji huffed angrily. '_Gee, thanks. That just makes me even more mad. Now you're going to the dance with Kouichi? You've completely changed, Izumi._'

He couldn't settle for that. Kouji walked out from his hiding spot, walking over to the foreigner and... the foreigner. Kind of.

"Hey," Kouji greeted calmly.

Izumi looked over at him in bewilderment.

Andy just replied with a similar 'hey', seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

"Do you have a date yet for the dance, Andy?" Kouji asked, knowing exactly where he was going with this.

"Not yet," Andy replied in disappointment. "But I will. What about you, Minamoto?"

"Izumi and me are going together," Kouji spilled the beans, leaving Izumi looking like a gapping fish. "Right, Izumi?"

Izumi glanced back and forth between the two boys in front of her. She hesitantly nodded.

"Yeah," Izumi went along with it. "I forgot, Kouichi said he wanted to go with someone else, so he asked Kouji to take me."

Kouji couldn't help but smirk at his triumph. She'd think he was going to the dance with her, while in reality, he'd just stay at home! How perfect.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Andy, Izumi."

With that being said, Kouji walked off towards his house, still grinning with his head bowed down.

---

**So, thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm too lazy to go through and thank everyone personally, but I will be doing that on the last chapter, which will be number 13. The next chapter will be Friday and then the last chapter will be Saturday, the dance, which will be the big finale... thing.**

**Oh em gee, thirteen, the unlucky number! -gasp-**

**Obviously, I'm kind of drabbling along to chapter 13, aren't I?**

**And I totally changed the end of this chapter. I had it all planned out, but changed it as I wrote it! -cackles-**

**PS: Sorry this is short. The last chapter should be the longest chapter of them all, so just put up with me until we get there. Remember, only chapter 12 stands in the way! And I completely forgot if Kouji was supposed to go to school today or not, so I just made him go anyway...**

**R&R please D**


	12. The Man Who Sold the World

**-shuffles feet-**

**Uhm, hi. So, liek, I'm completely stumped for this chapter. I'm just winging it so I can set it up for the next chapter to go smoothly. Remember, this is the second to last chapter.**

**Thanks to all reviewers, but I have one in specific I have to respond to.**

_From: Average Reviewer () ------------------- "Izumi and me are going together," Kouji spilled the beans, leaving Izumi looking like a gapping fish. "Right, Izumi?" should be "Izumi and I are going together," Kouji spilled the beans, leaving Izumi looking like a gapping fish. "Right, Izumi?"_

**...Oh boy. Regarding your attempted correction of my writing, no, I purposely wrote it that way. Not everyone talks like that. I used " and me" for a long while before Mark continuously corrected me on it. Therefore, let it be known, I wrote it that way on purpose, thank you. But I thank you for pointing it out.**

_"Kouji," She murmured, leaning against the lockers. "Listen, I'm sorry-" should be "Kouji," she murmured, leaning against the lockers. "Listen, I'm sorry-"_

**Big deal. I capitalized. That's how I write. I've seen how authors will write like that but I prefer not to, it's my personal writing style.**

_And if it's Saturday then yes, Kouji is supposed to go to school. _

**I'm basing the story off of how my school works. My bad if I'm too lazy to look it up...**

**I sure am making Kouji into a kniving bastard, aren't I? xD Don't worry, everyone has those moments. Kouji had his, that's all, he's not THAT bad of a guy!**

---

Chapter 12: The Man Who Sold The World

---

After school on Friday, Kouji received some unexpected visitors. While Kouichi was still avoiding the house (supposedly staying the night at JP's house), Kouji remained in the house alone.

Until those 'unexpected visitors' made an abrupt appearance.

And he was none too pleased.

"Omigod, hey, Kouji!" Kagura greeted cheerfully, but it was this kind of greeting that Kouji considered obnoxiously annoying.

Kouji stood at the door, staring at Kagura and Takuya. After several moments of silence and the visitor's hard-to-break grins, Kouji sighed.

"What?" He asked coldly.

"We heard you didn't have a costume yet for the dance," Takuya explained just as obnoxiously cheerful as Kagura. "So we thought we'd come over and hang out, help ya brain storm!"

"Did you ever stop and think maybe I'm not going?" Kouji replied.

"Why would you not go, Kouji?" Kagura questioned. "I mean, you _did_ tell Andy you were going with Izumi."

Kouji glared. "I'm going as a pumpkin. Go away."

As Kouji began to shut the door, Takuya's arm quickly collided with the door to stop it from closing any further.

"A pumpkin!" Takuya exclaimed in shock while holding open the door. "You have to impress Izumi, Kouji!"

"Dress to impress," Kagura added. "Or you could just crossdress for success. I think you'd make a great Princess, Kouji."

"Go." Kouji leaned against the door.

"Away." He prepared himself to push the door shut.

"Now."

Kouji struggled with Takuya now to shut the door. But to no avail, Takuya was a jock, after all. With great force, Takuya flung the door open. Kouji jumped out of the way before the door collided with the wall, the doorknob breaking a hole through the wall.

Takuya and Kagura hopped inside, looking at the damage along with Kouji.

"Sorry," Takuya mumbled, blushing from embarrassment.

Kouji let out a breath of annoyance through his nostrils. "Come inside..."

"Why, thank you," Kagura said with a smile.

The two walked into the living room (after removing their shoes) as Kouji shut the door. He took one last look at the hole in the wall before following after them. They were already seated on the couch, a little too close for Kouji's comfort.

Kouji plopped down onto the sofa as far away from them as possible. Their closeness made him experience strange feelings. Anger and jealously, but also a sting of loneliness. All the girls adored him, so why the hell couldn't he get a girlfriend!

"Aren't you going to offer us anything to drink?" Takuya inquired, looking around Kagura to stare curiously at the lone wolf.

Kouji looked at him... Glared at him. "No."

Takuya sighed now. '_This is so damn hopeless. I can't believe Kagura dragged me into this._'

"Omigosh, Kouji!" Kagura now turned away from her boyfriend and to Kouji with a wondrous look on her face. "You remind me so much of Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice!"

"..." Kouji raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Mr. Darcy!" Kagura squealed. "It's a book by Jane Austen, but I watched the movie recently. Mr. Darcy's such a bastard, just like-"

"SO!" Takuya interrupted, knowing what mistake Kagura was about to make. "How about that Pirates of the Carribbean, huh? Did you see the second movie yet, Kouji?"

"...No."

If Takuya had a soda then, if Kouji hadn't denied him any refreshments or snacks of any kind, a large mess would now be on the floor. Takuya stared at Kouji, shocked.

"You haven't seen the second movie yet!" Takuya exclaimed as if the world had ended. "Yeesh, Kouji, how do you survive?"

"Kouji could always go to the dance as Jack Sparrow," Kagura suggested to Takuya as if Kouji weren't there. "Will Turner wouldn't be as recognizable. He would make a nice Elizabeth Swan, though, if he died his hair. But Izumi would be better! Or Davy Jones, even! Wouldn't that be fun?"

Takuya put on what he called his 'hunk' face, with a suggestive grin. "I'll be your Jack Sparrow, Kagura-"

"Okay, enough!" Kouji exclaimed quickly, turning to the two. "Was there any specific reason you two came here or not?"

Takuya and Kagura looked at eachother expectantly. Takuya looked over Kagura's shoulder at Kouji.

"We just wanted to hang out, Kouji," Takuya explained. "And... stuff."

Kagura stared out the window, transfixed on a bird that sat on a small cherry blossom tree outside. Her mouth slowly began to hung agape at the sight, the bird twittering1 every few seconds.

"Well why now?" Kouji questioned.

"Do we need a reason to hang out with our friend?" Takuya shot back. "Unless you're not my friend or something."

"Just because-"

"Listen to the birds," Kagura suddenly said in a melodic voice, shutting both of the boys up as they listened. "Do you hear their songs? Aren't they beautiful? They're so peaceful... Hyoui! Hyoui!"2

An awkward silence settled over again. After a full minute of silence, Kagura suddenly spoke up.

"Kouji... do you recycle?"3

---

Takuya lay on his stomach on the living room floor, elbows propped up to hold the controller. He stared up at the television, biting his tongue in frustration.

"I wonder if they'll play any Hikaru Utada4 songs at the dance tomorrow," Kagura wondered aloud. She turned to look at Kouji who was staring at the video game on the television. "Kouji, why don't you just go dressed as a j-rocker?"

He looked at her curiously. "J-rocker? Those walking rainbows?"

"Not all of them dress colorfully," Kagura told him. "They dress in leather and stuff, too. Like Malice Maizer and D'espairs Ray, they're j-rock, I think. So is Hikaru Utada. And I think Dir-en-Grey5, too."

"Maybe," Kouji murmured, turning back to the television screen.

"_What you say_!" A man on the video game exclaimed.

"_All your base are belong to us_." Another said.6

"You'd better figure out something soon, Kouji," Takuya said from his video game as the cut scene continued. "I've had my costume ready for a week now."

"What is it?" Kouji asked, letting curiosity get the better of him.

"It's a surprise," Takuya stated simply. "Kagura, don't tell him yours, either."

"Okay."

Kouji became frustrated at their inability to gossip. Now, he was really curious to know what anyone was going as. No one had muttered a word about it, at least, not around him.

But asides from that, he still had to think of what he'd go as.

"Hm, you know," Kagura pondered aloud. "They should have a Masquerade Dance sometime."

---

**Finished with that one (I slacked, you can see it's short). Don't mind the title of the chapter. I couldn't come up with anything so I used one of my favorite David Bowie songs that was re-made by Nirvana, I love both versions. So does my Mom. We're weird.**

**1Is twittering even a real word? I swear it is...**

**2From "Serial Mom", a movie. It's pronounced: oo-ee, kind of. Just... weird. You have to watch the movie to get some of these jokes.**

**3Once again from "Serial Mom". My friend and I say that a lot. Serial Mom is crazy, and so I thought I'd add to Kagura's remotely crazy personality with some crazy quotes.**

**4Utada Hikaru, or Hikaru Utada. I went with the Japanese way. She really famous and sings the songs from the Kingdom Hearts series, Simple and Clean along with Sanctuary (english version names). She sings in both english and japanese. Thought I'd throw her in.**

**5Malice Maizer is very popular in Japan and elsewhere. They're broken up now, according to my friend. D'espairs Ray is my favorite band, they're not so popular in Japan and have more fans in other countries. More "AHH!" than anything, really. As for Dir-en-Grey, I don't know much about them, I just remembered their name. Can someone tell me if they're J-rock or not? P**

**6The name of the game, I don't know. I know it's really old and the translation sucks. These are legendary lines from Newgrounds, though, thanks to "Zero Wing Rhapsody". Maybe that's the name of the game? xD**

**So, do me a favor and R&R. I'm trying to hurry this one along (still very slowly) so I can write a Thirteen Ghosts fiction. Fun Fun. Next chapter will be long, mind you... And I don't have that one planned out. It'll take a while.**

**By the by, any more ideas for the costumes for anyone? Anything? I need ideas thrown out at me, dammit!**


	13. I Want to Hold Your Hand

_Hello everyone. It's been... what, over a year? Sorry. I hate when that happens with stories I am reading. I just got so caught up in my boyfriend situation, it really damaged my time for writing. My style of writing is probably different now, so sorry about that, too, if you take any notice. As most of you know, this is the final chapter and conclusion to The List._

_I have to admit, at the start of this, I planned The List to basically have each chapter with a different piece of advice from the list that Kouji finds. It sort of evolved into its own, though (and, somewhat, a teenage drama!), and I'm glad to know so many of you readers like it. This will probably be my last Digimon fanfiction. I plan to write .hack, or maybe Fruits Basket. I don't know enough about Digimon anymore, and I really haven't since I was 10. _

_**Thank you to all of my reviewers and any new reviewers I might get.**__ I was very unsure of my writing at first, but now I know it's not... half as terrible as I originally thought. So thank you for giving me the confidence I needed to share my writing with others, most of which can be found on FictionPress now._

_I think I'll go through and edit all these chapters as well, just to touch up the story, since I've had another year of writing experience to help improve my grammar and all._

_In specific, __**I would like to address Cloaked Fox and Average Reviewer.**__ Both of you were rude with your criticism, especially Average Reviewer, who said if I knew my grammar sucked, I should work on fixing it. He didn't seem to realize it was not something I could fix right away, and I am still slowly working on it. As for Cloaked Fox, I appreciate his harsh criticism now, but at the time I found it unbearable. Re-reading all my chapters, I see many mistakes now, and once again I am apologizing to Cloaked Fox, but asking him to be a little nicer to the new writers on FanFiction. Both of you need to remember that every writer must start somewhere, and that we are not born with perfection of the english language or what it takes to write a good, well-thought story (moreso Average Reviewer than Cloaked Fox)._

_**I think I'll also change the plot from "kissing lessons", to something more realistic. Like "she mistook me for you and kissed me", but it far more detail... Yeah. I'll do that. I'm writing the chapter as if that happened, then, and I'll change it soon. Let's just say Kouji is stubborn and won't believe them.**_

_**Sorry if I get some details wrong, too. Please point this out to me if you catch any!**_

_Disclaimer: You know the drill._

_**I made the chapter very long, mainly to emphasize Kouji's annoying brooding problem, and to make up for my absence! Please enjoy the final chapter. I hope it is satisfying.**_

---

Chapter 13: I Want to Hold Your Hand

---

Kouji opened his eyes the next morning, exhausted from Takuya and Kagura's late night stay. Those two simply did _not_ know when it was the right time to leave...

Well, Takuya might have. But Kagura sure as hell didn't.

The last Kouji could remember, he had glanced at the clock while brushing his teeth the night previous. It had read 3:47 am. Kouji rolled over in bed now, staring at his alarm clock through the harsh light shining through the window. Damn curtains don't work.

4:20 pm

'_...Haha,_' Kouji thought to himself, smiling just a little that only the most attentive of people would notice. '_Time to smo-... ngh... the dance is tonight._'

In truth, he wasn't ready to ditch Izumi and leave her alone and sad at the dance. Sure, vengeance was sweet and all, but somehow he could not bring himself to the peaceful conclusion that she deserved it for being a whore. What the hell was this relationship, anyway? It reminded Kouji of many Maury episodes... one in particular that involved an American couple, Buck and Cindy Antidisestablishmentarianism, who were having marriage troubles with Buck's drinking and Cindy's chain-smoking and bar-hopping with random men.

...Would that be Kouji someday? A sad, pathetic, lonely drunk who missed out on a school dance and ruined his chance at happiness with the one girl he could ever consider himself happy with?

He would just end up another drunk, sad guy with bad teeth and greasy hair...

Kouji closed his eyes and tried to sleep again. He rolled over after the light got to be too much, and pulled the covers over his head, deciding to lay there for as long as he could, wishing time would have stopped days ago.

Wishing he could simply relieve the evening he and Izumi had gone on their date. Every night, go out and repeat the same night.

'_I don't think I can ever be happy,_' he thought, sinking into a darkness that began to consume his logic. '_Maybe everyone was right. I put on this loner attitude to keep people away from me, so I can't have a chance at happiness, because I'm too afraid... afraid I might lose it... Even now, when I have a great chance of being happy with Izumi, almost a guarantee, I can't take it. Damnit, what is wrong with you, Kouji Minamoto?_'

Kouji reached onto his night stand, next to the alarm clock, and picked up the crumpled paper that started it all. Kouji read the last line on the list:

_No matter what happens, always be there for her._

He walked to the window and opened it. Kouji ripped the list into tiny pieces and let them float into the sky.

For the next few hours, Kouji lay in bed, pondering on his happiness. He did not know if he could be happy with Izumi, or if he should just stay as he had always been - alone and liking it. He did not know if he wanted happiness or not. He did not know, even if he wanted happiness or unhappiness, how he could get either.

---

_Kouji stood in an infinite white room. In it, nothing existed, nothing but a television._

_He noticed the large television, that was taller than he could stand. He walked up to it and turned it on, watching the images blur to life. Kouji sat onto the floor, crossing his legs, entranced by the images that appeared._

_It was everything he would normally see from his perspective. He saw Kouichi and the school hallway behind him on the television. The screen bobbed when the camera moved around. It was everything he saw. Everything. He watched. He watched what he saw and heard what he said, and what others said, in a quiet volume._

_He treated his friends coldly. JP, Takuya, Andy, Kagura, and everyone... he treated them badly, as if they didn't matter._

_Kouji was transfixed, despite his disgust. Time felt nonexistant._

_One person was missing; Izumi. He hadn't seen her yet. Where was she?_

_"Izumi..." he murmured, staring at the screen sadly as his body began to wave and crackle, as a television screen would when receiving a bad reception. "I don't love you, do I? I'm too young to love someone. I can't love you. Don't tell me that I do, Izumi, don't tell me that I do... Don't do that, please, stop..."_

_The screen cut away from its image, showing Izumi. She reached toward the screen._

_"It's fine, Izumi, don't strain yourself," Kouji sounded hopeless. Completely hopeless. "Kouichi could use you more than I could right now, I bet. Go to him, don't come here, I don't love you. He does. I don't love you anymore."_

_Still, Izumi reached to the screen, and soon a physical hand reached through. Then an arm. Then the rest of her stepped through. Kouji's body continued to shimmer and fizzle out. Reception would be lost any second, the closer Izumi came to him._

_She looked like a phantom as she stepped across the white floor in front of the television, standing in front of Kouji now. Any noise she made was nonexistant. She tried to say something, and nothing came. But she took no notice._

_Izumi reached down and placed a finger on his cheek._

_Before she could embrace him, as she had tried, Kouji disappeared and Izumi collapsed with nothing in her arms._

---

Kouji awoke again. He noticed the room was dark. Upon rolling over, his stomach growled loudly, and his bladder felt like it would burst at the slightest pressure.

7:34 pm

The dance would be starting at 8 pm.

'_Even if I wanted to go, I don't have a costume,_' Kouji thought. '_Sheesh, I have to pee._'

As he stumbled and danced into the bathroom nearly wetting himself, Kouji took a moment to become lost in thought as he relieved himself. He thought of his dream, how detailed it was, but how the details were quickly slipping from his memory, and soon he would barely remember it, and probably remember it wrong. He flushed the toilet and went back to his room to put on clothing instead of wandering the house in boxers and a T-shirt.

While struggling to pull pants onto his second leg, the phone began to ring. With only one leg in his pants, Kouji stumbled and danced to the phone nearly breaking his nose, finally grabbing the phone.

"Minamoto residence," he kept his voice calm, regardless of his need to breath deeply after all that struggle.

"_Hey, Kouji, are you coming to the dance or what?_"

Kouichi.

"No," Kouji nearly hung up, if not for what he caught Kouichi say with the phone a foot from his ear. "What did you say just now?"

"_I was trying to tell you that I have a second costume I bought in my closet,_" Kouichi said. "_Look, I know you're angry and all, but it was an accident, Kouji. Izumi thought I was you and tried to surprise you by kissing... but I guess she couldn't see my head to tell it wasn't you. I sort of had a door blocking her view, when I was putting my second costume into the closet... and she just kind of jumped on me. But then when you saw and she realized she was kissing me instead of you, she knew you wouldn't believe her and asked me to explain what happened, because I am your _brother _and all..._

_"So how about you stop being such a damn cry-baby, Kouji? Accept that Izumi is sorry, and that I am too, and it was all a stupid misunderstanding. Go to the dance and make Izumi and yourself happy instead of being such a stubborn dim-wit... And if you don't show up at that dance, Izumi is just going to end up enjoying herself with another guy._"

Much to Kouji's surprise, before he could muster an insult to his brother, Kouichi hung up on him.

---

Time clicked by. Finally, the dance was starting.

And Kouji sat on the couch, flicking through the channels of his television, but finding nothing that could keep him entertained. Really, he had been wandering the house aimlessly, trying to find something that could take his mind off of that stupid Halloween dance and Izumi, but to no avail.

Still, he wouldn't admit that, and sat fooling himself into believing he was having more fun than he would admitting defeat and running to that lame-ass dance in whatever costume Kouichi left behind.

'_I'm such a baby,_' Kouji thought to himself, planning on continuing that thought until the phone rang for the second time that day.

With a sigh, Kouji turned off the television, surrounding himself in darkness, as he went to the phone.

"Minamoto residence," Kouji recited monotonously.

"_Kouji?_"

"I-Izumi, uh, hi," he wanted to run from the phone. "What's wrong?"

"_You're not here yet. Kouichi told me you weren't coming._"

"I'm not coming," Kouji stated. "I just said I was so you didn't have to deal with that foreigner all night."

"_Oh... Well, can you still come, please? I'm sure you or Kouichi must have an old costume somewhere, or you can throw something together. Do you want me to come over and help?_"

"No, Izumi," he was more forceful with his words, trying to cut her with them. "I'm not coming because I don't want to go to the damn dance with you, okay? Go dance with Kouichi - I'm sure that's what he wants, and probably what you want."

There was a knock on the door.

"I have to go," he said. "Enjoy the dance."

Kouji hung up and moved to the door now. When he opened it, he nearly fell over in surprise.

"What the hell, Andy? Why are you here? And why are you dressed like that?"

Andy smiled. "Halloween dance, I'm going as _Naruto_. Do you think I pulled it off?"

"I don't know," Kouji replied. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"I had a feeling you wouldn't show up, so I thought I'd come over and give you a little push to get ready and come enjoy yourself with all of us."

"No thanks," he said. "I all ready rented a ton of anime movies for the night, so just go tell them I'm not coming."

His smile fell, and then he shrugged. "Kouji, I'm sure you think I'm some stupid foreign guy who has a crush on your girl, but I'm not blind or deaf. Something's wrong with Izumi and you. And she hasn't told me what, but it seems like she's trying really hard to make things better, and you're not letting her. Do you think you could cut Izumi some slack? It sucks watching her be all sad over you. Really, I don't know what she sees in you."

"I don't either," Kouji said. "But thanks for all that, I guess. Go away now."

"If you were smart, you'd be there for her," Andy said before Kouji slammed the door shut and locked it.

_No matter what happens, always be there for her._

"What the hell is this," Kouji talked to himself as he marched back into the living room like a drama queen. "_Come bother the hell out of Kouji_ day? This is getting so annoying."

'_But I wish I could forget my pride and dance with her._'

---

Kouji glanced over at the clock during commercials. It was now 8:42, and the dance would be well in by now. There's no way he would be expected to show up now. The dance only lasted until 10:30, after all. Everyone who would be there, would be there, by now.

A knock on the door.

Kouji fumed silently. He was sick of being bothered. He ignored it and turned the volume up on the television, hoping the person outside would hear it and get the hint. More than likely, Kouji guessed it would be Kouichi, pissed off about his encounter with Andy and what he had said on the phone to Izumi.

The knocking grew louder.

"Go away, Kouichi!" Kouji yelled, turning the volume higher.

The knocking kept going.

Fuming, Kouji turned off the television, and marched to the door. Because, truly, Kouji's walk could not be described any other way than marching like a bitchy house wife who has discovered her husband left the toilet seat up again.

He unlocked the door and threw it open, ready for battle with his twin.

But it wasn't Kouji. It was a knock-out of a sight.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" Kouji demanded, eyeing Izumi's black hair, creepy attire, and dark make-up. "What did you do to everything on your head? And your clothes, what the hell are those? What the hell?"

"I came here so you could tell me to my face what you said on the phone," Izumi ignored Kouji's comments and disgusted look at her goth-chick costume. Her hands were on her hips, and her eyebrows raised. It was the stance only a truly determined woman could hold, but there was still hope that Kouji could escape her wrath.

"No, Izumi, go to the dance," Kouji said coldly. "Let's just drop this entire thing, and ignore each other for the rest of our lives."

She tapped her foot, making a loud thumping due to the combat boots she wore. Kouji knew it was impossile to avoid her once she got her foot tapping.

"What the hell do you _want_ me to say?" he exclaimed, crossing his arms. "I'll repeat exactly what I said on the phone, then. I don't want to go to the dance with you. I never did. You can go dance with Kouichi and have fun with that retarded ninja."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like Kouichi," Izumi's temper seized her as well, and she raised her voice as she continued. "I like _you_, Kouji, not your brother. It was a huge misunderstanding, and I've apologized so many times. I don't know what it is _you_ want _me_ to say to fix all this."

"It can't be fixed," he stated confidently. "It-"

"Then what do I do? Do I just let you go because of something stupid?"

He wanted her to go away. Slowly, she was breaking down his will, just by standing there and arguing. Kouji knew Izumi was right. It was a huge misunderstanding, and it was stupid, and he was letting it tear them apart.

"I don't like you any more," he said, but his confidence wavered as he tried to continue. "Okay, Izumi? I just lost interest. Sorry."

'_But it's not true, Izumi, don't believe what I'm telling you. I'm scared of you. You have no idea how much I really do love you. No matter how much I could try to love you, it would never be enough. You really do deserve better than some anti-social idiot like me._'

Izumi's hands flew to cover her face. "All right, Kouji."

'_Oh, god, why did I tell her that? Why do I have to chase her away?_'

Before Kouji could take it back, she ran off.

_No matter what happens, always be there for her._

Kouji pushed the door lightly. The sound of it shutting echoed through the empty house. Kouji stood there for minutes, his legs numb.

He walked upstairs, glancing at the clock on the way.

8:54 pm.

Kouji stopped in front of the closet. He took a deep breath, letting the reality sink in, that he had finally lost Izumi. He strived and chased after her, finally caught her, and then forced her to leave.

Kouji ran to the phone and called Kouichi's cell phone.

---

Kouichi shut the cell phone with a snap, looking down the street for Izumi. Within seconds, she slowly appeared in the distance, under a street light. She walked slowly. He chuckled lightly at her costume. The dark attire must have kept her hidden in the darkness before she stepped into the light. She was close enough now for him to see, even in the darkness.

He approached her, bored of having to wait for her to walk all the way down at such a slow pace. He noticed her make-up looked a little bit smeared under her eyes.

"Hey," Kouichi said with a half-hearted smile. "You look bummed. How'd it go?"

"Bad," she murmured, letting her head fall onto his chest, completely exhausted. "He told me he lost interest. And did you grow? You seem taller."

"The shoes give me some more height, maybe an inch, but I might just be hitting a growth spurt. So he said he lost interest, eh?"

Izumi nodded into his costume, letting her arms hang down. She sighed. Kouichi began to lightly sing a song.

"I caught me a ba-by bumble-bee," he mumbled it at first, growing louder as he went. "Won't my mommy be so proud of me? I caught me a ba-by bumble-bee... ow, it stung me!"

She laughed a little, keeping her forehead planted flat on his chest. It felt nice to have his warm skin radiate through his clothing. It was somewhat soothing on her forehead, as if it were a massage for her mind and all the stress that she was under. Not even stress, just... numbness. Complication.

"I'm smooshing up my ba-by bumble-bee!" he continued. "Won't my mommy be so proud of me? I'm smooshing up my ba-by bumble-bee... eew, what a mess!"

Izumi continued smiling. Kouichi couldn't see her smiling, but knew she was from his happy antics - a simple song about killing a baby bumble-bee.

"I'm lickin' up my ba-by bumble-bee! Won't my mommy be so proud of me? I'm lickin' up my ba-by bumble-bee... eew, I feel sick!"

"Haha," she laughed again, knowing the next part of the song by heart. It was a song Kouichi had taught her right after their experiences together in the digital world.

"I'm puking up my ba-by bumble-bee! Won't my mommy be so proud of me? I'm puking up my ba-by bumble-bee... eew, what a mess!"

The song honestly made no sense, now that Izumi was hearing him sing it to her again for the first time in years. Why would you lick up bumble-bee guts? Or smash it in your hands? Wouldn't the stinger go into your skin while smashing him?

To an extent, Izumi felt like a smashed up bumble-bee. But instead, she was a butterfly, in the hands of Kouji. Smashed.

'_But definitely no further than smashed..._'

"I'm mopping up my ba-by bumble-bee," he lowered his voice, nearly a whisper now. If there were even the slightest bit of wind, he would be incomprehensible. "Won't my mommy be so proud of me? I'm mopping up my ba-by bumble-bee... there, all better."

"That song is so stupid, Kouichi."

"I know."

Izumi sighed again.

"This night is not going the way I had expected," she said. "I think I'll just give up on him and let him go."

"Okay," Kouichi shrugged.

Izumi backed away and looked up at his face, unable to tell if he was really serious. Normally, Kouichi would say otherwise... try to convince her to give Kouji one last shot... Sure enough, Kouichi, for once, looked dead serious.

"You had might as well stop wasting your time with him," Kouichi continued. "Give him another 15 years to grow up."

"Funny you say that now," Izumi laughed a little. "You're in a cow suit. Why are you giving me advice, Mr. Cow?"

"Moo," Kouichi smiled again. "Us cows have had lots of time to observe you hu-oo-mans... We know what it is you-oo need to know to get along."

With a tiny fist, Izumi lightly punched Kouichi in the shoulder and blushed. He laughed, placing his hands on his cow stomach and "ho-ho-ho"-ing.

"Touch my utters?"

"No,"

"Fine, you're no fun," Kouichi sighed. "Can you wait here, Izumi? I don't want to lose you in the middle of that crowd inside, so do you mind if you wait here for a few minutes? I'll be right back, I just... well... I _really_ have to pee... and I could do it here... but that's not nice to do in front of a lady, and it would just smell-"

"Okay, Kouichi," Izumi interupted. "Go, I'll wait here."

"Awesome, thanks," he replied, walking away and asking every female he passed on the way if they would like to touch his utters.

In the distance, Izumi heard one girl yell the word "sexy", assuming it probably applied to Kouichi in his cow suit with the fake rubber utters coming out of his abdomen. Of all things to wear, she should have expected it from Kouichi.

Around the school was a stone wall, about six feet tall, which prevented most students and adults at the dance from seeing where Izumi stood. If a person were to walk onto the sidewalk and turn left, however, she would be in plain sight. Izumi leaned against this wall, feeling a little lonely as she waited patiently for Kouichi to return.

Izumi didn't notice right away, until after a person had left the street lamp she previously walked under, heading in her direction. It was just a guy with his hands in his pockets, a person she didn't recognize. But the way he walked with shoulders hunched slightly, how he was built, even the way he took a step forward and then moved the other foot to do the same... it all looked familiar.

And as the man approached Izumi, she didn't say anything. He parked himself right in front of her. God, he was tall, just as Kouichi had suddenly grown taller. Izumi glanced at his shoes. They didn't seem to add extra height.

She looked up at his face, waiting calmly for whatever it was he had to say, that stupid, idiotic guy with his hair pulled into a pony tail.

"I'm a vampire," was the first thing he said, with a light smile to show his canines. "But I've gotten rid of my fangs for tonight."

Kouji's skin was pale, very pale. His eyes gleamed. He really did pull off the role of a vampire, especially with his dark, shoulder-length hair. He didn't wear any cheesy sort of vampire costume, with a cape and a red amulet. He wore a classy tuxedo with a dark blue tie. Kouji was a classy vampire.

'_He looks hot,_' Izumi thought to herself, looking him over. '_That hair really does the trick._'

"I thought you didn't want to come," she replied. "Why are you here, Kouji?"

He gave a short, nonchalant shrug. "I don't mean to sound all sensitive or anything, but I just stood there and thought about it, and decided that I was sick of lying, so here I am. I'm just going to make this short and simple: I really like you, and all that crap I said was a lie, okay? I'm not going to go so far as to say that I'm in love with you... but there is something there, and it's strong, and I'm not going to let it be stopped yet. We can keep trying, if you want. I'll try my best to make myself clear from now on, instead of fooling you and hurting you on purpose."

Izumi couldn't help but freeze up. It was so odd of Kouji to come to her and say all this.

"Wow," she breathed out. "You really mean it, then. All of it."

"Yep," he glanced away for a moment, then quickly turned his attention back on Izumi.

While Izumi seemed to be lost in her thoughts, with the utmost of care Kouji removed one hand from his jacket pocket and grabbed onto her index finger. The sudden contact made Izumi look into Kouji's cold, fierce eyes. He leaned down ever so gently and placed his lips on hers - careful not to go any farther than she was ready to go. She closed her eyes, enjoying how cold his lips felt, and he enjoying how warm hers felt.

He began to pull away, when suddenly she reached up with her free hand to push his lips back onto hers. They began to kiss with more passion now. Kouji allowed Izumi to do as she pleased. He had never made-out with a girl before, and he fumbled every so often with his kissing, making her smile at his innocence. Their tongues touched and danced with the same intensity that Kouji was feeling for Izumi at that moment.

Izumi removed her hand with a stroke of his pony tail. Receiving the signal, Kouji pulled away slowly, and took a deep breath. He didn't let go of her delicate little finger.

"I..." Kouji had lost all composure, becoming frustrated at his lack for words, and his brow furrowed and eyes averted from hers. "I'm sorry about all that stuff that happened, okay? Can we make out again?"

She laughed a very small, petite laugh of happiness. "Later we can, Kouji, we should go find Kouichi and tell him that you've decided to show up."

"Ugh, okay," he said. "I'd rather just say screw the dance and hang out with you."

"Not yet," she replied again. "I want you to see all the costumes. Kouichi is dressed as a cow! Did you know that?"

Kouji and her began to walk towards the entrance. "Nope."

"And JP dressed up as that guy Johnny Depp played - the pirate! It looks so funny. Oh, and Kagura and Takuya are Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, do you know that anime?"

"Nope."

The two went inside and met the crowd. The very large, very loud crowd.

Kouji barely felt present as Izumi tugged his along, taking him to each of their friends. It was true - Kouichi did look ridiculous, and so did JP. Kagura seemed to fit the Sailor Moon suit, and Takuya had no doubts about his Tuxedo Mask costume. A few people commented on Kouji's outfit, some were confused to know what he was, and others were happy to compliment him on his good looks that night.

As if from a far away place, Kouji would thank them, and keep all his attention on Izumi.

All that mattered was his attention on her. He focused all his energy and thoughts to her, barely hearing the rest of the people.

A slow song was playing now. One that Kouji recognized, but could not name. Izumi didn't budge from her spot, but kept her face down. She knew he didn't like to dance at all.

But...

_No matter what happens, always be there for her._

'_But I really do owe it to her for all this shit I've put her through._'

With a simple tug of her hand, and a nod of his head, maybe even a small smile that only Izumi could see, he wrapped her in his arms and slowly danced with her.

He leaned into her ear and whispered, "I think I was wrong. I think I do love you."

_**END**_

**I hope that was a satisfactory story for everyone. I tried to end it as... well... cheesy as possible, but with a Kouji attitude, and it was hard to do because Kouji's such a hard-ass. But I think I did okay, what do you all think? I beg you to review! Pleasseeee review.**

**And reviewers: Once again, I thank you for all your support and devotion.**

_After the crowd had cleared, JP stepped outside of the school, beginning his long walk home. Suddenly, a gush of wind flew past him, and something hit him in the face with a loud crinkle. JP hurriedly pulled the thing away from his face and stared at it. It was a paper in bad condition with hand-written words on it. Many pieces had been gathered and taped together to reform the paper. JP stared at it before folding it with ease and pocketing it._


End file.
